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Iran says U.S. "responsible for repercussions" of new sanctions

(Xinhua)    09:55, December 14, 2013
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TEHRAN, Dec. 13 -- The United States is responsible for the repercussions of new sanctions that target entities pertaining to Iran's nuclear activities, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Friday.

"Such measures are unconstructive and not in line with the Geneva deal," Afkham was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

The United States on Thursday blacklisted additional companies and individuals for evading earlier sanctions against Iran and supporting its nuclear program.

Washington accused five entities and individuals of attempting to evade international sanctions against Iran and ten of others of involving in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction- related materiel, said a statement issued by the U.S. government.

"Some groups both inside and outside of the U.S. government want to kill the Geneva deal," Afkham said, adding that "these groups mistakenly suppose that the sanctions, but not reaching an agreement, would be the final solution" to Iran's nuclear issue.

"We advice the United States to have firm stance and not to be intimidated by the hard-liners who are against the Geneva negotiations," she said.

"The U.S. government is fully responsible for the repercussions of such unsound measures," she noted.

On Friday, Iran's nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi also criticized the United States for blacklisting new entities, semi- official Fars news agency reported.

Blacklisting additional companies and individuals by the United States "is against the spirit of the Geneva deal," Araqchi was quoted as saying, adding "we are studying the situation to adopt a proper response."

Iran's expert-level nuclear negotiating team halted talks with the representatives of world powers in Vienna on Thursday to return home for further consultations, according to IRNA.

"The expert-level negotiating team of the Islamic republic that has been talking with the experts of the P5+1 in Vienna since Monday ended the talks for some consultations in Tehran," an unnamed member of the team was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Also, semi-official Fars news agency reported that "No official has commented on the reasons why the expert-level negotiations were not continued." Fars added that according to some foreign media, the talks were supposed to be continued on Friday.

The semi-official ISNA news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying that "Iran quit the expert-level talks" with the P5+1 on Thursday in a response to the recent U.S. sanctions against the individuals and companies allegedly linked to Iran's nuclear program.

Last month, Iran and the P5+1 group announced they had reached a deal after five days of marathon talks in Geneva.

Under the agreement, the United States and its allies will provide Iran with limited sanction relief on its oil, gold, petrochemicals, civil aviation, and auto industries with an estimated value of about 7 billion U.S. dollars during the six- month deal.

In exchange, Iran agreed to halt enrichment above 5 percent and begin neutralizing its stockpile of near-20 percent uranium by diluting or converting. Both parties have called the deal an important "initial step for confidence building."

(Editor:LiangJun、Yao Chun)

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