Iran says not "pessimistic" on clinching final deal in nuke talks

Iran's Majlis (parliament) speaker Ali Larijani said Monday that he is optimistic about the results of ongoing nuclear talks which are aimed to solve the decade-long dispute over the country's nuclear program.

"I am not pessimistic about a deal and it is highly likely (to happen), since many steps have already been taken in this direction," Larijani said when asked about the possibility of an agreement between Iran and world powers in near future.

Iran may accept further monitoring missions on its nuclear program, provided that Iran's nuclear dossier is returned to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by the UN Security Council, the Iranian speaker said.

He supported a statement signed by 260 Majlis representatives Monday regarding the feasibility of a deal from the parliament's perspective, saying that "monitoring nuclear talks is our duty, which maintains them dynamic in the process."

The statement issued by lawmakers called for these two conditions: the removal of all sanctions against the country and normalization of Iran's nuclear dossier in order to seal a comprehensive deal between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries, namely Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany.

The statement urged Iranian nuclear negotiators to protect what it called the country's nuclear achievements, warning that in the event the other party breaches its contract once an agreement is reached, the deal will be suspended and Iran will start uranium enrichment at any level it desires.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met in the Swiss city of Lausanne Monday aiming to smooth out the remaining differences over the country's nuclear issue.

Iran and the P5+1 group are set to draw the outlines of an agreement by end of March in order to facilitate clinching a comprehensive deal before the June 31 deadline. Endit