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TEHRAN, Nov. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The European trio of Britain, France and Germany on Sunday officially informed Iran that they had agreed to resume bilateral nuclear talks in December, Iran's
official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
IRNA said the message was conveyed in a letter
signed by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, French Foreign Minister Philippe
Douste-Blazy and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The letter was delivered to Javad Vaeedi, deputy
secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), by ambassadors of
the three European countries to Iran earlier in the day, the report said.
The letter came in response to a call made by Ali
Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and secretary of the SNSC, on Nov.6 in
a letter to the three foreign ministers.
"Iran welcomes constructive and logical talks
within the framework of respective conventions and regulations of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Larijani said in the letter.
The European trio's message came three days after
an IAEA Board of Governors meeting decided to postpone referral of Iran's case
to the UN Security Council in order to offer more time for Tehran and the EU to
discuss an alleged Russian proposal.
According to the proposal, Iran will be allowed to
conduct uranium conversion activities on condition that the enrichment stage be
moved to Russia, a measure keeping Tehran from obtaining nuclear technology
crucial to making atom bombs.
On Sunday morning, Iranian Foreign Ministry
Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi called on the European Union (EU) to "be logical" to
allow the two sides to resume nuclear talks within the framework of the IAEA,
stressing that the talks "should not impose any regulations on Iran and should
not aim at wasting time."
Asefi denied that Tehran had received any proposal
from Russia, dismissing the alleged Russia suggestion as being fabricated by
media.
However, Asefi reiterated that the whole process
of Iran's uranium enrichment program must be performed in its own territory and
the nuclear talks must be based on this condition. The EU-Iran talks collapsed
in August when Iran broke a suspension of uranium conversion, the first step
toward uranium enrichment, which can be used to fuel nuclear reactors and as the
explosive core of atom bombs.
In September, the IAEA urged Iran to re-suspend
conversion activities or face a referral of its nuclear case to the Security
Council.
The United States accuses Iran of developing
nuclear weapons secretly, a charge rejected by Tehran as politically
motivated.Enditem |