NEW YORK, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Ahead of upcoming talks with six world powers, Iran on Tuesday expressed willingness to find a mutually agreeable solution to the issue of its controversial nuclear program.
"Iran is ready to engage in serious and fruitful negotiations," Mohammad Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the UN, told reporters at the country's diplomatic mission here in New York.
"We are looking for collective cooperation," he said.
Iran will hold a second round of negotiations on its nuclear program in Istanbul, Turkey, on Jan. 20-21, with the so-called P5+1 -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States plus Germany.
Meanwhile, Khazaee maintained that Iran would not back down from "its unalienable rights to use nuclear energy for only peaceful, peaceful purposes."
The ambassador said he regarded the talks as a "platform for cooperation" on broader political, security and economic issues at both regional and international levels.
The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran's financial and military sectors in June in a bid to curb its uranium enrichment program.
The United States and Europe remain critical of Iran's nuclear program, suspecting that it masks a drive to develop an atomic bomb -- a charge repeatedly denied by Iran.
"Engagement in such negotiation is a strategic approach, not a tactic to buy more time," Khazaee said. However, he said that neither sanctions nor pressure would keep Iran from pursuing a "peaceful" nuclear program.
"Negotiations if dealt with good intention and genuine political will, instead of pressure and threats -- can ensure the Iranian rights and remove the concerns of both parties," he said.
Although the Iranian envoy called for engagement, he said Iran will "react accordingly" to any threats or pressure.
"It's not going to work putting a knife at (someone's) neck, or a sword, and at the same time ask him to negotiate with you," Khazaee said.
al Report: Iran Nuclear Crisis
