国际英语新闻:Iran says immediate comprehensive nuclear agreement unlikely

TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it is unlikely to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement in a fresh round of talks with the world powers in the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Iran does not expect immediate results from the new round of nuclear talks, which started on Tuesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Marzieh Afkham said Iran and the P5+1 group, including the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany, would mainly talk about the framework of their future negotiations in Vienna.

The course of the talks is "long, difficult and complicated which should be paced carefully and vigilantly," she said.

Iran's military and defensive program has nothing to do with the nuclear talks and "a new round of talks will merely focus on Iran's nuclear issue, and the Iranian negotiating team will insist on that," she added.

Referring to Monday's remarks by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about the talks, she said the leader was urging the Iranian negotiators to heed "predetermined principles" of Iran's nuclear rights.

Khamenei said Monday that he was not optimistic about Iran's nuclear negotiations with the world powers. "(Some Iranian officials believe) if we negotiate with the United States on the nuclear issue, the problem will be solved ... I'm not opposed to the talks, but I'm not optimistic."

Meanwhile, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi on Tuesday said the fresh talks would focus on "setting an agenda."

"We did have a very good beginning," Araqchi, also Iran's senior nuclear negotiator, told reporters in the first day of the new round of talks, adding that "but it depends."

"Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and will remain (peaceful) and we are ready to assure them (the P5+1) that our nuclear program will never move toward non-peaceful objectives," he told reporters after the first primary session.

"To us, what has been announced as dismantling Iran's (nuclear) program and facilities is not on the agenda," Araqchi said.

The current talks tried "to create a framework for future negotiations," said Michael Mann, spokesman of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, on Tuesday in Vienna.

"Nobody is expecting a final agreement in this round, but we are hoping for progress," said Mann. "Of course, there will be intensive and hard work in front of us."

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Tuesday called for more diplomatic efforts and confidence in solving Iran nuclear issue.

Hua said the Iranian nuclear issue is "complicated and sensitive," and it involves the interests and mutual trust of all parties.

Last November, the P5+1 group and Iran reached an interim deal on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva, which came into effect on Jan. 20.

"This represents a virtuous cycle of curbing Iran's nuclear program and relaxing sanctions against Iran," Hua said, adding that all parties should make efforts toward significant and positive progress.

Under the deal, Iran suspended the most sensitive parts of its nuclear activities in exchange for partial relief of the sanctions slapped on it.