Talks results depend on P5+1 approach

A top Iranian diplomat says if major world powers adopt a logical and positive approach toward talks with Iran, good results could be expected to be achieved.

“We will enter the talks with a positive view, and we believe that the undeniable potentials of the Islamic Republic of Iran create a good opportunity for cooperation,” Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in an interview with Turkey’s state-television TRT.

“If the other party also approach the talks between Iran and the P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany — positively and wisely, very good results could be achieved,” he added.

The next round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 will be held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on January 21 and 22.

Jalili rejected the claim that Iran was trying to buy time and said, “We announced in Geneva talks that there is no need to halt negotiations, and talks could be continued.”

Iran and the representatives of the P5+1 held their last round of multifaceted talks in Geneva on December 6 and 7.

“Certain powers introduce themselves as the representatives of the world’s public opinion, but the era of such way of thinking is over,” Jalili said.

Iran’s top negotiator criticized the existing double standards regarding certain countries’ nuclear activity and asked “Why has the activity of few thousands centrifuges in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) caused such sensitivity?”

He noted that “certain powers sign agreements with countries which are not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty … and some of these countries even have conducted nuclear tests.”

The IAEA has verified the peaceful nature and non-diversion of Iran’s nuclear program 25 times in its reports, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council concluded.

The US and its allies accuse Iran of developing a military nuclear program, and used this pretext to pressure the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran’s financial and military sectors in June.

Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted the charges, arguing that as a signatory to the NPT and a member of the IAEA, Tehran has a right to use peaceful nuclear technology.