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FM spokesman: Iran urges talks with no preconditions

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 18, IRNA
Iran-Asefi-Nuclear
Iran on Sunday said it would not resume a new round of international talks with preconditions over its nuclear program.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi made the remark while addressing domestic and foreign reporters at his weekly press conference.

"I am not supposed to speak about content of the proposed package of incentives offered to Iran by the European side. In my opinion, negotiations will be the right path. Of course, there should be no preconditions.

"We can reach acceptable results through talks," Asefi said.

Early this month European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited Iran to hand over a package of incentives to Tehran, prepared by the five permanent member states of the UN Security Council -- Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States -- plus Germany to convince it to give up its uranium enrichment activities and resume talks to settle the dispute over its nuclear program.

"Preconditions will limit the framework of talks and prevent us from achieving results."
He expressed his regret over performance of few countries which refer Iran's nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council hastily, saying, "It was an illegal, incorrect and fruitless measure.

"We think resumption of talks will be the right path which should be put on agenda."
Pointing to diplomatic efforts made by Iran during the past days, the spokesman assessed as "good" the visit by Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani to three Islamic states of Yemen, Algeria and Egypt and said, "We praise the stance of the three states on supporting Iran's right.

"(Larijani's) visit helped in promotion of ties (between Iran and the three countries) particularly Egypt."
He added a visit by the Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to Spain was another step taken within framework of talks with the Europeans to explore avenues for resolving a standoff over Iran's nuclear case.

Referring to telephone conversations held between Solana and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei and Larijani, Asefi said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran outlined its viewpoints and stance and announced that the dispute will be settled just through negotiations."
During the talks, he added, Iran expressed regret over the US dual and contradictory attitude which has led to more ambiguities.

"We once again told the Europeans that the case should be followed up through negotiations to achieve Iran's support. We should take this path."
The spokesman further stated, "We have set up various committees to study Europe's package of incentives. The committees are made up of colleagues at Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and some numbers of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

"The committees are following up the case seriously and meticulously. The Islamic Republic of Iran will announce its views on Europe's proposed package as soon as the committees come to a conclusion in this regard."
Asked about remarks by the Iranian foreign minister Saturday that Iran would give a transparent response to Europe's package of incentives, he said, "The response will be transparent both for the European side and public opinion in Iran."
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