REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DUBAI -- All United Nations Security Council resolutions related to Iran's nuclear programme will be lifted immediately if a final deal is agreed, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday, stressing the benefits to Iran of this week's negotiations.
After leading Iranian negotiators to a preliminary deal with world powers in Switzerland, Zarif must now convince a domestic audience that the talks are heading toward a final deal that is in Iran's interest.
He disputed a "fact sheet" released by the United States shortly after the deal that emphasised Iranian concessions and referred to sanctions being suspended rather than lifted.
"The Americans put what they wanted in the fact sheet... I even protested this issue with (U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry himself," he said in a television interview cited by the Fars news agency, adding that the U.N. Security Council would oversee any deal.
"Either side in this agreement can, in the case of the other side violating the agreement, cease its own steps," Zarif said.
He mirrored earlier comments by U.S. President Barack Obama that sanctions could be reapplied if Iran did not stick to its word.
"Whatever work we have on the nuclear programme can be restored... Our knowledge is local and no one can take that away from us," he added.
Iran's lead negotiator, who was welcomed back to Tehran by cheering crowds on Friday, insisted that Iran had negotiated from a position of strength to secure a good preliminary deal.
He pointed to the changes in the demands of the P5+1 group of countries - the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China - as evidence of the success of negotiations that began two years ago.
"Before the Geneva agreement (of November 2013), they wanted to bulldoze Arak, reduce Fordow to dirt....But these positions changed," he said.
"They realised they can't shut down Iran's nuclear programme."
Zarif said Iran would stick to its promises so long as the West also did so, and suggested a deal could open the door to more productive relations with the international community, echoing comments on Friday by President Hassan Rouhani.
"Inside the negotiation room we are honest and outside the negotiation room we are honest," he said.
"We don't want anything more than our rights. We've never pursued a bomb in the past or now. We're also not looking for regional hegemony. We want good relations with our neighbours in the region."
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