The head of the Iranian Parliament has announced that Iran’s negotiating team should not succumb to Western pressures, and Iran must choose the level of enrichment it requires to carry out its peaceful nuclear activities.
The Kahneh Mellat website reports that today, June 13, in Parliament, as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili presented a report on the nuclear talks, parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said the parameters of the nuclear negotiations are set by international regulations.
He accused the world powers of “insincerity” in their negotiations with Iran, adding that they lack consensus amongst themselves.
He went on to urge Iran’s negotiators to stand by “what the Iranian people have achieved after many years,” adding that sanctions against Iran have allowed it to develop its own nuclear know-how.
The statements by the parliamentary chief come just as the Russian Foreign Minister is scheduled to arrive in Iran to discuss the coming nuclear talks in Moscow as well as the Syrian crisis.
Jalili told Parliament that the International Atomic Energy Agency has not been able to find any fault with Iran’s nuclear activities. He added that the Fordoo and Natanz nuclear facilities are both operating under the agency’s inspection, and everything is run according to regulations laid out in the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
He added that the West cannot call for talks with Iran on one hand and then act as its “enemy.”
Jalili maintained that the West’s problems with Iran are not about nuclear issues but rather a more fundamental disagreement with the Islamic regime and religious democracy.
Jalili reported that one of the nuclear negotiators told him outright: “We do not want you to have any nuclear knowledge.”
The head of the Supreme National Security Council went on to deny the adverse effects of international sanctions, adding that those restrictions have led to Iran’s nuclear self-dependence.
He said that during the negotiations, Iran has demanded that its rights be recognized under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Regional issues including Bahrain, the war against drugs and piracy were also discussed in the talks, according to Jalili.
He added that his assistant and the representative of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton were supposed to coordinate the topics of discussion for the coming meeting in Moscow. He maintained that the matter has been delayed so far, which he said casts doubt on the success of Moscow talks.
The two sides have met twice so far, once in Istanbul in May and later in Baghdad. They will meet again in Moscow on June 18.
