Iran will not retreat an iota from its nuclear rights in the run-up for a possible comprehensive deal with powers, the senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said on Saturday, official IRNA news agency reported.

Araqchi made the remarks in response to the recent allegation of the top U.S. envoy, Wendy Sherman, on the nuclear talks with Iran.

Sherman, also under secretary of state for political affairs, said on Thursday that she did not know whether the deal can be reached by the cut-off date.

"Despite intense efforts of the negotiators, we are still in that 'difficult' stage," she said, "we must use the remaining time wisely and with a sense of urgency and purpose."

"With no doubt talking through media rather than at the negation table" not only will not help the advancement of the talks and reaching an agreement before the deadline, but will even hinder the progress, Araqchi said.

Iranian officials also believe that this is "a rare opportunity which may not be repeated easily," Araqchi said. However, it does not mean that the Islamic republic will slacken over its rights to peaceful nuclear program.

"Iran's position in ongoing (nuclear) negotiations is quite clear," he said. "We will not retreat an iota from the country's nuclear rights and at the same time we are fully ready for transparency."

The Iranian nuclear negotiator also stressed that Iran insists on the lift of all sanctions against the country, and the Islamic republic will not accept that even one item of the sanctions remains within the framework of a possible comprehensive nuclear deal.

On Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he saw a comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers within reach before the deadline of Nov. 24, as "good steps" have been taken toward the long-awaited comprehensive accord.

Iran and the so-called P5+1 group -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany -- agreed in July to extend the talks for another four months till Nov. 24, as they could not narrow down significant gaps on core issues during the past six months.

The two sides met again last week for three days in Vienna, Austria without any major breakthrough. Endi

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