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Iran-P5+1 talks heading in right direction: Iranian FM

Iran Press TV

Tue Mar 5, 2013 5:58AM GMT

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says the talks between Tehran and the P5+1 group of six major world powers over the Iranian nuclear energy program are on the right track.

“The important point is that the talks with the P5+1 (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany) are heading in the right direction,” Salehi told reporters in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Monday.

The Iranian foreign minister said the latest round of talks has yielded positive results, urging both sides to take another step forward.

The latest round of the talks between Iran and the P5+1 was held in the Kazakh city of Almaty on February 27-28. The two sides agreed to convene again in the city on April 5-6 to continue the talks after holding expert-level talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on March 17-18.

Both sides have expressed hope and optimism about the future of the talks. On February 28, Reuters quoted an unnamed Western diplomat as saying that, "This was more constructive and more positive than previous meetings because they were really focusing on the proposal on the table."

In an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF on March 1, Salehi himself described the latest round of the talks as a “milestone” and a “turning point in the negotiations.”

Iran and the P5+1 group have held several rounds of talks, with the main focus on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the United States and EU using this pretext to impose several rounds of illegal unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Tehran rejects the allegation and maintains that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

MYA/MA/HJL