Interview: Iran unlikely to sign incomplete deal -- expert

Iran is not likely to sign an incomplete, first-stage framework deal on its nuclear program with world powers despite the looming deadline for a political framework agreement, an analyst has said.

"Objection to the two-stage agreement is a consensus of the whole Iranian political establishment," Mohammad Marandi, dean of Tehran University's faculty of international studies, told Xinhua on Sunday.

It is possible for the ongoing talks to yield certain agreement on the framework of a final deal, but it is not likely to be a formal one, he added.

After an incomplete agreement is signed, there will be no mechanism to make sure that the United States and its allies will continue talks with Iran to actually solve the nuclear issue, Marandi said, adding that Iran has learned the lesson from negotiations between Palestine and Israel where half-finished deals failed to bring peace and solution.

The United States has been urging Iran to ink a political framework agreement by the end of March before a final comprehensive deal can be clinched by June 30. Some U.S. politicians have been pushing for more sanctions on Iran in case a framework agreement could not be sealed.

If Iran signs a framework agreement, the United States and its allies will use it as a bargaining chip against the Islamic Republic in the future, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned earlier this month.

Mohammad-Javad Zarif, Iranian foreign minister and leader of its nuclear talks team, echoed Khamenei's remarks in the previous round of talks on March 18, saying "nothing is resolved until everything is resolved."

In order for the talks to be successful, the West must do two things: removing all sanctions and recognizing Iran's nuclear rights, Marandi said.

"Iran may slow down its nuclear program for a few years to build trust and goodwill. In the long run, Iran will not give up any legal rights and its nuclear program must go back to normal," he added.

Sanctions and research and development of nuclear technology are the main sticking points of the talks, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency quoted a senior Iranian negotiator as saying without giving his name.

Marandi also rejected speculations that tradeoffs on regional issues are being made in the nuclear talks as Iran's influence in crisis-ridden countries such as Yemen, Iraq and Syria grows stronger.

Iran does not want to bring regional issues into the talks as it will only further complicate things and benefit the Western powers, he said.

Hopes for a deal are running high among Iranians, who see the participation of the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States, as a sign of an imminent agreement and eventual end to sanctions.

"If the United States has the political intent to solve the problem, that means to recognize Iran's rights, then there will be a solution. Perhaps the fact the foreign ministers are going to the negotiations is to see if major decisions can be made by the United States at this stage," Marandi said.

On Nov. 24, 2013, the six major countries and Iran reached a first-step agreement on Iran's nuclear program, the Geneva 2013 Joint Plan of Action, which demands Iran suspend some sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for limited sanction relief to buy time for the diplomatic effort to resolve the issue.

Since then, the countries and Iran have twice missed self-imposed deadlines for a final and comprehensive accord, respectively in June and November last year, and the negotiators then set March 31, 2015 as a new deadline for a political framework agreement and June 30 for a final deal. Endi