US secretary of state calls on Iran to engage in ‘real dialogue’

US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for a ‘real dialogue’ between Iran and the P5+1 group ahead of the next round of talks on the Iranian nuclear energy program.

Kerry told reporters on Thursday that the talks “can only make progress” if Iran engages in “a real dialogue.”

On February 7, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said, “Negotiation is meaningful when the two sides talk with goodwill, under equal conditions and without seeking to deceive each other. Therefore, ‘negotiation for the sake of negotiation’, ‘tactical negotiation’ and negotiation offer in order to sell a superpower’s gesture to the world is a deceptive move.”

Kerry’s remarks came a day after Iranian Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazaei urged the P5+1 to be “serious and realistic” in the upcoming talks.

Iran and the P5+1 – Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany – are scheduled to hold another round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 26. The last round of the negotiations was held in Moscow in June 2012.

On Thursday, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said hegemonic powers are unable to halt Tehran’s nuclear energy program and emphasized that the Iranian nation would not yield to pressure.

The United States, the Israeli regime and some of their allies have falsely accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Under the unfounded allegation, the US and its European allies have imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iran has vehemently rejected the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.