Iranian top nuclear negotiator arrives in Istanbul

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Istanbul, April 13, IRNA -- Iranian delegation, headed by Supreme National Security Council Secretary and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, arrived here on Friday.

The Iranian delegation was welcomed by local Turkish officials as well as Iranian Ambassador to Ankara, Bahman Hosseinpour, at the airport.

Iran and the Group 5+1 agreed to resume talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 14 and a second round in the Iraqi capital city, Baghdad.

The last meeting between the two sides took place in Istanbul in January 2011. Iran and the G5+1 had also held two rounds of multifaceted talks in Geneva in December 2010.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed the West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing those sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80075907