Iran accepts to resume nuclear talks
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Xinhua, August 18, 2011
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said Wednesday that Iran accepts to resume nuclear talks with the world's major powers but will not surrender to any pressure.
Iran welcomes Russia's "step-by-step" proposal to resolve the nuclear deadlock, Salehi said at a media briefing after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow during a two-day visit, adding that the Russian initiatives "imply cooperation and negotiations."
The Russian foreign minister proposed in mid-July a new "step- by-step" approach to restart the talks between Iran and the West on the country's controversial nuclear issue.
Lavrov said Wednesday that when the talks on Iran's nuclear issue could resume depends mostly on Tehran.
"For understandable reasons, it is our Iranian partners, more than anyone else, which will decide when we can sit down and resume the talks. We hope very much that the ideas we discussed today will help us move to an active phase of the work," Lavrov told media.
Lavrov expressed hope that Iran and the six parties, which include Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany, could resume the talks quickly.
The two ministers also urged the international community not to interfere into the events in the Middle East and North Africa.
The "outsiders" should encourage various political forces in the Middle East and North Africa to seek dialogue, Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev arrived in Tehran on Monday with a delegation for talks on issues including the Iranian nuclear standoff.
Esmaeil Kowsari, deputy chief of National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis (parliament), said Wednesday that the objectives of Patrushev's visit to Tehran were to discuss Russia's proposal on the Iranian nuclear issue as well as the Iran- Russia 2007 deal concerning the S-300 air defense system, according to local Mehr news agency.
Iran inked a deal with Russia to purchase the S-300 weaponry systems in 2007. However, Russia scrapped plans to deliver the systems to Iran as it fell under the UN sanctions.
Kowsari said the Russians have breached the agreement on delivering the S-300 missile system to Iran and should be accountable.
S-300 is an advanced mobile missile system which can shoot down aircraft and cruise missiles from up to 150 km away.
Other issues concerning Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and also the launch of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant were also on the agenda of the talks with Patrushev, said the Iranian Lawmaker.
Kowsari told Mehr that the Iranian foreign minister's visit to Russia aimed at negotiations on Iran's nuclear issue and the nuclear talks with G5+1.
