Jalili confers int’l developments with Amar al-Hakeem

Visiting Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili conferred latest regional and international developments with Sayed Amar al-Hakeem, Head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq here on Tuesday.

Jalili stressed the importance of promotion of cooperation between the two brother countries of Iran and Iraq in this meeting.

Al-Hakeem for his part, welcomed the expantion of ties between Tehran and Baghdad.

Secretary of Iranian Supreme National Security Council held also talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iraq’s President Jalal Talebani on mutual, regional and international issues during his visit to Iraq.

Jalili, said in a meeting with the IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano on Monday that the verdict of the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution provides a platform for disarmament and Iranian cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Jalili, leading an Iranian delegation arrived in Baghdad on Monday night to attend a meeting with representatives of Group 5+1 led by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to discuss the dispute over its national nuclear program.

This is the first time Jalili is discussing security cooperation with senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad.

Jalili was welcomed at the airport by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Danaeifar.

Iran and Group 5+1 are scheduled to resume nuclear talks on Wednesday for two days.

Iran and the Group 5+1 agreed to resume talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 14 and a second round in the Iraqi capital city, Baghdad.

The last meeting between the two sides took place in Istanbul in January 2011. Iran and the G5+1 had also held two rounds of multifaceted talks in Geneva in December.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

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 demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing those sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.