P5+1 will lose with confrontational attitude: Iranian lawmaker

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the six world powers of the P5+1 will not gain any benefits during the upcoming talks with Iran if they maintain their policy of confrontation towards the Islamic Republic.

“If the parties negotiating with Iran refuse to change their policy of confrontation to one of collaboration, they will be the losing side in the long term as they have been in the short and medium terms,” said Head of Iran’s Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi on Tuesday.

Iran and the P5+1 – China, Russia, France, Britain, the US and Germany – will hold a first round of fresh talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Saturday, April 14, and a second round will be held in Baghdad.

Boroujerdi added, however, that if the P5+1 takes cognizance of the realities in the upcoming talks with Iran, it will be beneficial to both sides.

He lauded Iran’s efforts over the past year to produce fuel rods for the Tehran Research Reactor and said they “proved that [Iran] can achieve peaceful objectives by relying on its indigenous capabilities within the framework of the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty].”

“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) failed to fulfill its responsibility to supply fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor, which is tied to the lives of many patients,” he said.

“They didn’t think that the Islamic Republic of Iran has the capability to produce fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.”

On April 7, Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Ghannadi said Iranian researchers have succeeded in producing fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor “according to schedule.”

Iran placed the first indigenous fuel rods into the heart of the Tehran Research Reactor on February 15. The fuel rods were produced at the Isfahan nuclear facility and transferred to the Tehran Research Reactor under IAEA supervision.

By placing nuclear plates into the Tehran reactor, Iran has taken the final step in completing the nuclear fuel cycle.

Iran and the P5+1 have held two rounds of talks, one in Geneva in December 2010 and another in the Turkish city of Istanbul in January 2011.

Tehran has repeatedly made it clear that it will not negotiate over any of its fundamental rights.

Iran maintains that as a signatory to the NPT and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to acquire and develop nuclear technology for peaceful objectives.