Tehran, Sep 9 (IANS) Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi has said his country was ready to hold negotiations with world powers on Tehran’s nuclear programme, state-run Press TV reported.
“We have repeatedly expressed our readiness and announced that we are ready for talks in a win-win situation,” Salehi was quoted as saying.
Iran has never lost the “opportunity for diplomacy”, the foreign minister said.
“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has asserted that Iran’s nuclear energy programme is peaceful. If there is any problem today, it is the problem of the West and the US,” he said.
Xinhua said that in the past years, several rounds of talks over the controversial nuclear programme have been carried out, but have led to no peaceful settlement of the issue.
During intensive talks in Moscow in June, Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), did not sign any agreement but agreed to meet again in Istanbul in July.
In July, Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator Ali Baqeri said the talks with deputy head of the EU’s foreign relations in Istanbul were “positive”. However, no date and venue was set for further negotiations.
The US, Israel and some Western countries suspect the Iranian nuclear programme is a cover for building nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear activities are “peaceful” in nature.
