Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator and the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, arrived in Moscow today for negotiations with world powers.
The Mehr News Agency reports that Jalili arrived in Moscow on Sunday morning along with his delegation.
The talks will take place on Monday and Tuesday between Iran and the G5+1, which consists of the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia together with Germany.
The Moscow talks represent the third time the parties will meet since talks resumed in April in an attempt to resolve the international disputes over Iran’s nuclear activities.
The parties met in Istanbul in April and in Baghdad in May, and so far analysts are not very hopeful about the outcome of the talks.
Iran’s Supreme Leader accused the world powers of deceiving the public. In a speech on May 23, Ayatollah Khamenei said: “In political forums and international media they talk of the danger of a nuclear Iran, but I say that they lie and are engaged in deception. What they fear is not a nuclear Iran but an Islamic Iran.”
Iranian officials have said that that world powers must recognize Iran’s right to its nuclear program.
Iran is also critical of the sanctions laid against it, and Parliament has announced that the negotiating delegation must not compromise Iran’s right to a peaceful nuclear program under the NPT regulations.
World powers, on the other hand, have indicated that they are concerned about Iran’s uranium-enrichment activities, and reports indicate that they may be calling for a complete suspension of this program.
The uranium-enrichment program provides fuel for nuclear reactors, but enrichment at high levels could indicate a capability of producing nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, the world powers have been divided in their approach to the talks.
Russia and China have condemned unilateral sanctions on Iran, but the United States and the EU have imposed severe sanctions on Iran that will take effect in the next few weeks and have already significantly reduced Iran’s ability to sell its oil exports.
