New round of Iran nuclear talks broadened consensus: Chinese official

Wang Qun, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaks to media in Geneva, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2015. The new round of negotiations over Iran's long-standing controversial nuclear program broadened the consensus, said the head of Chinese delegation to the talks on Sunday. (Xinhua/Zhang Miao)

The new round of negotiations over Iran's long-standing controversial nuclear program broadened the consensus, said the head of Chinese delegation to the talks on Sunday.

Wang Qun, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that this round of talks was intensive, practical and in-depth.

Wang said that China hopes all sides to seize the valuable historic opportunity, and show the political will and determination to facilitate a package solution and a win-win comprehensive agreement.

Wang added that parties involved agreed to hold the next round of talks in early February.

The P5+1 group, namely China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States, plus Germany, and Iran held talks over Iran's nuclear issues, the second one after the failure to meet a Nov. 24 deadline in 2014 for a comprehensive nuclear deal.

The Sunday negotiations were premised on prior bilateral engagements between the United States and Iran during the past four days which started with a one-day talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Javad Zarif on Wednesday.

According to Iranian state-run IRIB TV, Zarif on Saturday expressed optimism about a solution to his country's nuclear issue despite the fact that wide gaps between Tehran and the world powers remain.

He said that "serious, accurate and clear discussions" over the disputed nuclear topics were held over the past days, and "we are seriously doing our job and believe that the solution is within reach."

Iran has been a target of UN sanctions due to its alleged attempts to build nuclear weapons. The West accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the cover of civilian nuclear programs, which Iran has denied, insisting that its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes only.

Sides agreed in November 2014 to extend the deadline for another seven months and aimed to reach a political agreement within the next four months.

How much nuclear capability Iran can keep, and the steps to lift West-imposed sanctions against Tehran are the main sticking points for the on-going negotiations.