Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are to continue Tehran-West nuclear talks in a meeting in London on Friday.
The meeting is due to take place just hours before Solana presents his report on Iran’s nuclear issue to the Group 5+1 – the five permanent UN Security Council members (the US, Britain, France, China and Russia) plus Germany.
The UN has demanded Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program, but
Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes and that the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitles all signatories, including the Islamic Republic, to the right of nuclear enrichment.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus said Solana will be looking for signs that the Iranians are prepared to suspend uranium enrichment as demanded by the UN Security Council.
The UN had earlier commissioned two reports on Iran’s nuclear program – one from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the other from Solana.
The IAEA report by Director General Mohamed ElBaradei praised Iran’s cooperation towards full transparency of Tehran’s nuclear programs, describing the Islamic Republic as truthful about key aspects of past nuclear activities.
Despite pressure from the US and its key European allies, Russia and China have been reluctant to press for new measures, specially following the IAEA report.
Jalili recently said that he has new ideas to raise in today’s talks with Solana.
Ahead of the talks, Iranian Government Spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham also said that Jalili would “present new ideas and initiatives” to Solana.
