Iran to enter P5+1 talks with clear proposals

Deputy to Iran’s chief negotiator says the Islamic Republic will enter the new round of talks with the P5+1 group of world powers with clear, groundbreaking proposals.

Undersecretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Baqeri made the remarks in Kazakhstan’s former capital city of Almaty, where Tehran and the P5+1 — the US, Britain, France, China, and Russia plus Germany — are set to start their new round of comprehensive negotiations on April 5.

Earlier in the day, the SNSC Secretary Saeed Jalili urged the world powers to recognize Tehran’s right to enrich uranium under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group will hold two days of negotiations in the Kazak city on April 5 and 6, with the main focus being on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

Tehran and the P5+1 have already held several rounds of talks the last round of which took place in Almaty on February 26-27.

The US, Israel and some of their allies claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and the European Union using the false claim as pretext to impose illegal sanctions against Iran.

Tehran rejects the allegation over its nuclear energy activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the NPT and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.