Framework nuclear deal respects Iran's red lines: Iran commander

Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari looks on while attending Friday prayers in Tehran February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl

(Reuters) - An outline nuclear accord reached this month between Iran and world powers respects Iran's red lines, though ambiguities over the lifting of sanctions must be resolved, a top Iranian military official was quoted as saying on Saturday. Iran and world powers are engaged in talks to reach a comprehensive deal that would place limits on Iran's nuclear program in return for the removal of some U.S., European, and United Nations sanctions on its financial and energy sectors. The United States has said that sanctions removal on Iran will be phased gradually, but Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have said that sanctions on Iran must be lifted as soon as a final agreement is concluded. "Solutions have been obtained and it seems that the principles and red lines of the Islamic Republic in technical issues have been accepted by the enemy," said Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Fars News. "However in regards to removing the sanctions, there are ambiguities which need to be made clear and we must realize that this very issue of how the sanctions will be removed can lead to a lack of agreement." The IRGC, an elite military force, plays a major role in Iran's political and economic affairs. (Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Sandra Maler)