Iranian media report that Iran and Russia will soon begin talks about Russia’s "step by step" plan to break the impasse in nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Jaam-e Jam daily reports that Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the Russian National Security Council, will meet with his Iranian counterpart, Saeed Jalili, in Iran on August 14. And later, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is to visit Russia at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"Bilateral relations, regional issues as well as the nuclear situation are the general areas of discussion for the head of Russia’s National Security Council; however, in view of the evidence, it appears that the ‘step by step’ plan, which was proposed by the foreign minister of this country, will be the main topic of the talks," Jaam-e Jam writes.
The “step by step” plan was suggested by Russia last month, and was presented to the U.S. and China, as a way of breaking the impasse in nuclear negotiations between Iran and the G5+1. According to this plan, Iran will be asked questions about its nuclear program and, at every step, it will be rewarded for its responses with the easing of some of the international sanctions now in place against it.
The plan has been frowned upon by certain members of Iranian Parliament who insist that Iran has already answered all of the IAEA questions. They emphasize once again that Iran’s nuclear activities are wholly peaceful.
