Iran

Islamic Iran Proposes Live Coverage of Talks with World Powers

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said Tehran has “nothing to hide” regarding its nuclear program and has even proposed live broadcast of its talks with the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

“Iran’s nuclear issue has a specific framework. The talks that we have pursued have been so transparent and our proposals have been so specific that the Iranian side has even proposed a live TV coverage of the whole talks,” Mehman-Parast said in an interview with FNA on the sidelines of Tehran’s 19th International Exhibition of Press and News Agencies on Saturday.

“We have nothing o hide and we are proposing our ideas transparently,” he added.

The Iranian foreign ministry presser further stressed that disputes over Iran’s nuclear program would have been resolved if they had been technical or legal.

“Our disputes with the other party are neither technical nor legal but political,” he stated, and reiterated that the Iranian nation will not retreat from its nuclear rights under the western pressures.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West’s calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed the West’s demand as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.

Last month, Iran’s Deputy Chief Negotiator Ali Baqeri said Tehran is waiting for the world powers’ response to its proposal which was presented in the Moscow talks in June, adding that the response would pave the way for future talks between the two sides.

In Mid-September, Iran’s top negotiator Saeed Jalili held a meeting with EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the world powers in negotiations with Tehran, in Istanbul.

Speaking at a press conference after a bilateral meeting with Ashton, Jalili described his meeting with Ashton as “good”, and said, “At this meeting we reviewed the discussions raised in the Moscow talks and the contents of the experts meeting (in Istanbul in July), and we studied the common points which can serve as a platform for cooperation and further talks.”

“We are always ready for talks and we have declared that we are ready to hear your response to Iran’s plan,” Jalili added.

Jalili alluded that he and Ashton have come to the conclusion that “the viewpoints raised in Moscow and Istanbul have reached a common point”, and now a decision can be made for the start of the next round of talks.

Ashton, too, described the talks as “useful” and “constructive”.

“While it was not a formal negotiating round it was a useful and constructive meeting,” said a declaration issued by EU High Representative Ashton’s spokesman Michael Mann after a meeting between Ashton and Jalili.

The talks followed negotiations in Moscow in June, a meeting of the respective heads’ deputies in July and phone calls made over the summer.

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