Iran’s Jalili to meet EU foreign policy chief in Istanbul

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili is slated to meet with the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Istanbul.

Ashton’s office announced on Monday that she will meet Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator on Tuesday as “part of continuing efforts to engage with Iran,” after the six major world powers (P5+1) and Iran held talks in Moscow in June.

UN nuclear chief Yukiya Amano said on Monday that the agency is “firmly committed” to continuing talks with Iran to resolve issues over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

The deputies to Jalili and Ashton held day-long talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on July 24.

The meeting between Ali Baqeri and Helga Schmid was held three weeks after Iran and the P5+1 held expert-level talks on July 3 in Istanbul with the participation of representatives and experts from both sides.

The two sides had already agreed to hold the expert-level talks during their negotiations in the Russian capital, Moscow, in June.

At the heart of the Moscow negotiations was Iran’s nuclear energy program, with Tehran reiterating its inalienable right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence indicating diversion in Tehran’s nuclear energy program toward military purposes.