Ashton: P5+1 seeks nuclear resolution

Shortly after Iran and the six major world powers wrapped up multifaceted talks in Istanbul, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says the countries she represents seek a “swift” resolution to Tehran’s nuclear issue.

“On the fuel cycles, we have many times, including today, said that we recognize Iran’s right to a civil nuclear program,” Ashton told reporters in Istanbul on Saturday.

“The countries I represent remain united in seeking a swift resolution of the international communities’ concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program,” she added. “It remains essential that Iran demonstrates that its program is exclusively for peaceful purposed.

Ashton said that the Geneva talks had concluded with an agreement to pursue “practical ideas and ways of cooperating towards a resolution about our core concerns about the nuclear issue.”

“We came here with specific practical proposals which would build trust ….we put forward detailed ideas, including an updated version of the TRR (Tehran Research Reactor) fuel exchange arrangement.”

“While we have been here, (in Istanbul) we have had a series of meetings with Iran, including a separate meeting of the Vienna group countries (Russia, France, US, IAEA) with Iran,” she added.

Ashton went on to add that the P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany — had hoped to have a “detailed and constructive” discussion of their ideas, accusing the Iranian side of seeking to set “preconditions on talks relating to enrichment and sanction.”

However, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili contradicted the claims, saying Iran is committed to following up on talks.

“We are still prepared for further negotiations with the P5+1, based on common issues. Prepared for comprehensive talks like we said in Geneva,” Jalili told reporters.

Asked about Ashton’s claims about Iran’s “preconditions,” Jalili said that Iran had discussed certain necessary factors that would need to precede any meaningful talks, such as strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“Fuel swap can be a basis for cooperation between nations … and it could be a subject for further negotiations,” he added.

On Friday, Iran’s top envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran would not abide by the resolutions the United Nations Security Council has adopted against its nuclear program, since they are in “violation of international laws.”

Tehran maintains that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has the right to peaceful atomic energy and technology, saying that its nuclear work is under IAEA supervision.

Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted Western allegations that Tehran is following a military nuclear program, slamming what they call the double standards adopted by the West, in particular in the case of Israel — the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East.