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Question: How do you evaluate the course of negotiations in Geneva on Iran’s Nuclear Programme, especially in the context of yesterday’s statements by the White House that if the P5+1 do not agree, sanctions against Tehran will be aggravated?

Sergey Lavrov: The negotiations in the 3+3 format with Iran are continuing today in Geneva. I do not want to make any forecasts, but there is a chance to coordinate a single approach including the roadmap to finally close this problem. The messages coming from Geneva make us hope so. To a decisive extent, a helpful thing was that some time ago partners supported our proposition to make the superposition and reciprocity principle the foundation of negotiations, when at each step of Iran towards the requirements included in the decisions of the IAEA Board of Governors and the UN Security Council, the international community should make a reciprocal step to weaken the pressure of sanctions. This principle was finally adopted at the negotiations with all our partners, which played quite a constructive role. The main thing now is, beside the organisational approach, to reach an agreement on the merits, and we are deeply convinced that this issue should be resolve according to the formula, announced by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, which is formalised in the Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation. Its essence is that Russia appeals for Tehran’s rightto use the benefits of peaceful nuclear energy, including its right to enrichment, to be acknowledgedif the entire nuclear activities of Iran are under strict IAEA control, naturally, if the questions the Agency has raisedwith Iran are removed. Talks around this issue are currently being held in Geneva. If we manage to fix this principle, I think that we will be able to start practical movements forward to remove concerns of the international community in connection with Iran’s Nuclear Programme.