Sanctions Against Iran Would Not Be Lifted Immediately – French FM

On Thursday, following almost a week of talks in Lausanne, Tehran and P5+1 negotiators agreed on a framework deal, under which US and EU nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran will be suspended after the IAEA verifies that Tehran started implementing the nuclear agreements, including a decrease in the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges.

PARIS (Sputnik) — The final decision to lift international sanctions against Iran is yet to be made and depends on Tehran's implementation of its obligations under Thursday's framework deal, the French foreign minister said Friday.

“Iranians want the sanctions to be lifted immediately. We told them: the sanctions will only be lifted if you will comply with your obligations. If you will not comply with them, then we will obviously get back to where we were. There is no agreement [on this issue] yet,” Laurent Fabius said at Europe 1 radio.

The West has long accused Iran of intending to create a nuclear weapon under the guise of a its civil nuclear energy program – a claim Tehran has repeatedly denied.

Since November, 2013 Iran and the P5+1 group, comprising Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Germany have been negotiating for a comprehensive deal to ensure the peaceful nature of Iranian nuclear energy activities. The final deadline for reaching the deal is set for July 1, 2015.