Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iranian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi said his country may extend nuclear talks with P5+1 for another six months, ISNA news agency reported.

Najafi made the remarks at a meeting between Iran and the P5+1 Group (Russia, China, France, Germany, UK and the U.S.) in Vienna in February. The meeting aimed at working on a comprehensive deal.

Iranian envoy further voiced his optimism for positive results despite some differences.

Iran and the P5+1 Group signed an interim deal on Iran's nuclear energy program in Geneva on November 24, 2013. The deal took effect on January 20.

Under the agreement, six major powers agreed to give Iran access to its $4.2 billion in revenues blocked overseas, if the country fulfills the deal's terms. The agreement offer sanctions relief in exchange for steps on curbing the Iranian nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers is being implemented as planned but much remains to be done to resolve all issues regarding Tehran's atomic activities, Reuters reported.

Amano also said the IAEA remained 1.6 million euros ($2.21 million) short of the funds it needed for its extra work in verifying that Iran is living up to its part of the six-month accord reached in November.

"The measures implemented by Iran, and the further commitments it has undertaken, represent a positive step forward, but much remains to be done to resolve all outstanding issues," he told a closed-door meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors.

Iran and P5+1 plan to continue their talks to reach a final agreement to fully resolve the decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear energy program. The next round of expert-level talks will be held on March 5.

This will also be followed by a meeting between EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna on March 17.

However, Iran's top nuclear negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has recently said he is not optimistic about negotiations with P5+1.

Araqchi went on to say that there are difficult and complicated issues in the nuclear talks' agenda.

He added that Iran is also pessimistic about the western side's intentions.

The U.S. and some of Western countries suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon -a claim that Iran denies. Iran has on numerous occasions stated that it plans to use nuclear energy for medical research.