P5+1 has not offered new proposal: Iranian source

An Iranian source says the P5+1 group has not presented Iran with a new proposal and only replied to Iran’s proposals presented during Moscow talks eight months ago as they conclude meetings in Kazakhstan.

Iran and the P5+1 (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany) ended their two-day negotiations in Almary and agreed to hold “expert-level” talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on March 17-18, according to the Russian negotiator.

Both sides also agreed to continue negotiations.

The source added that Tehran has received P5+1’s response to Iran’s earlier package and not a new proposal.

“P5+1 has revived its Baghdad offer to reply to Iran’s Moscow proposals,” the source said.

The last round of negotiations was held in Moscow in June 2012. Baghdad talks were held on May 23-24, 2012.

Ahead of the talks, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili, who leads the Islamic Republic’s negotiating delegation, and EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, held a meeting on Wednesday.

Iran and the P5+1 group have held several rounds of talks with the main focus on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The United States, the Israeli regime and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Over the false allegation, Washington and the European Union have imposed several rounds of illegal unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iran refutes the allegation and argues that as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.