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UN veto powers and Germany to discuss Iran's nuclear program in London

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Berlin, Feb 23, IRNA
Germany-Iran-London
The five UN veto powers and Germany will meet in London on Monday to discuss the next steps in dealing with the row over Iran's nuclear program, the German Foreign Ministry announced here Friday.

The meeting will take place on the level of political directors of the six countries.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday that the next steps in the Iranian nuclear case had to be reviewed over the coming days after the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Tehran had not halted its uranium enrichment activities.

Reacting to the report of the UN nuclear watchdog, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency Mohammad Saeedi, said Iran views the suspension of enrichment in violation of its rights within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and international rules and regulations.

He told IRNA on Thursday that Tehran has accordingly been unwilling to comply with UN Security Council's Resolution 1737 to suspend enrichment activities.

Saeedi stressed Iran has always voiced its readiness to address the remaining issues after working out a proper framework.

He has also added that resolving the remaining issues is possible, if the case is transferred back from the UN Security Council to the IAEA.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said earlier Tehran was ready to address the remaining concerns of western countries over its nuclear programme.

"It is the political will of the government to have a negotiated settlement of this case ... through constructive dialogue," Larijani was quoted as saying at last week's high-profile Munich security conference.

Larijani told the Munich meeting that Tehran had the right to peaceful nuclear technology and that his country's uranium enrichment activities were solely aimed at research and development.

"In Iran's national security doctrine there is no room for atomic and chemical weapons ...," he added.

Larijani stressed that "irrational preconditions" such as western demands that Iran must suspend uranium enrichment before coming to the negotiating table, were an obstacle to settling the nuclear dispute.

"This misguided approach has not solved the problem," the Iranian official stressed.

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