Iran had single proposal in Baghdad talks

Iran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalili said the six world powers had a single, and not a package of, proposal for Iran in the Baghdad talks, which focused on uranium enrichment, FNA reported.

"The opposite side had one proposal, and not a package of proposals," Jalili said at a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Catherin Ashton, who presides over the delegations of the six world powers in negotiations with Tehran, and after two days of negotiations in Baghdad.

"The world powers' single proposal focused on uranium enrichment," Jalili said, elaborating on the contents of his several rounds of talks with the delegations of the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members - US, Russia, China, Britain and France - plus Germany) in Baghdad on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Our response (to this proposal) is just one thing: respect for the legal rights of the IAEA and NPT member states," he reiterated.

Jalili stressed the necessity for the strengthening of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as the legal and international bases for nuclear activity and cooperation, but emphasized that "there should be a balance between the undertakings and the rights of the (IAEA and NPT) member states".

"Uranium enrichment is among the inalienable rights of all NPT member states and Iran insists on using this right," Jalili reiterated.

Meantime, he said all the delegations of the six world powers underlined during the two days of talks in Baghdad that "the Islamic Republic of Iran is entitled to the right to make a peaceful use of the nuclear energy and that this right cannot be denied".

On April 14 and after a 15-month hiatus, Iran and the six world powers resumed talks in Istanbul, Turkey, and agreed to meet again in the Iraqi capital on May 23.

Following the Istanbul talks, Ashton underlined in her remarks to reporters that the six world powers all respect Tehran's right to use peaceful nuclear technology.

"We have agreed that the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) forms a key basis for what must be serious engagement to ensure all the obligations under the treaty are met by Iran while fully respecting Iran's right for the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Ashton said in a news conference following the meeting with Jalili in Istanbul last month.

Iran and the G5+1 are due to continue their negotiations in the Russian capital, Moscow, on June 18 and 19.


/Trend/