World powers’ proposals do not go against Iran’s rights: nuclear negotiator

An Iranian nuclear negotiator says the proposals offered by world powers at the most recent round of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program in Kazakhstan do not go against the country’s rights.

“The revised proposals offered by the 5+1 group at the talks on (February 26 and 27) did not go against our rights, and this is a more positive trend compared with the past,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was present at the Kazakhstan talks, said in an interview with the Persian service of IRNA published on Tuesday.

The most recent round of talks between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) was held in Almaty, and the two sides agreed to meet again at the same venue in April.

They also agreed to meet at expert level in Istanbul on March 18.

Araqchi added, “We must wait and see whether or not the goodwill the other side tried to show in the Almaty 1 (talks) will continue in the Almaty 2 (talks)?”

He also said that the steps that Iran and world powers are expected to take according to the proposals are not of “equal weight”, adding, “What is important for us and can show whether the other side has goodwill or not is how ready they are to make the proposed measures of equal weight.”

In Almaty, the major powers dropped their demand that Iran shut down its underground uranium-enrichment plant at Fordo, and insisted instead that Iran suspend enrichment work there and agree to unspecified conditions that would make it hard to quickly resume production. They also said that Iran could continue to produce and keep a small amount of its uranium enriched to a purity level of 20 percent for use in a research reactor that produces medical isotopes, according to the New York Times.

If Tehran agreed to these steps, the major powers said they would suspend some sanctions against Iran, including trade in gold and petrochemicals, and would not impose new sanctions through the United Nations Security Council and the European Union. The main oil and financial sanctions that have caused Iran’s oil revenues to drop would not be loosened.