Iranian parl't speaker says seek substantial nuclear negotiations

The Iranian Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said here on Saturday that Iran does not want to hold negotiations with the European Union (EU) over its nuclear case just for the sake of negotiations.

"Our policy during previous weeks showed that we are serious in opposition to wasting time and just holding negotiations," Adel was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

Adel urged the Europeans to "follow up future talks more seriously", saying the EU were "well aware of the will of the Iranian nation and government on the restoration of their rights" on the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

The speaker also said that Iran would not take initial moves until the next round of bilateral nuclear talks, stressing that Tehran was not pessimistic about the promise of diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.

"We should wait to see what issues the Europeans will raise. There is no reason to express our pessimism beforehand," Adel added.

Based on the agreement reached at a round of tentative negotiations on Wednesday, Iran and the EU have decided to hold another round of substantial nuclear talks on Jan. 18.

The EU, the longtime broker of the Iranian nuclear issue, is trying to defuse the Iranian nuclear crisis by pressing Tehran on an alleged Russian proposal, which allows Iran to conduct uranium conversion activities in exchange for the country's transfer of the enrichment process to Russia.

However, Iran has resolutely rejected the proposal, stressing repeatedly that the whole process of uranium enrichment must be conducted in its own territory and restricting the scope of further negotiations to a timetable over Iran's resumption of uranium enrichment work.

The bilateral nuclear negotiations between Iran and the EU, which started after Iran suspended the enrichment-related activities in November 2004, had been stranded since Iran defiantly resumed uranium conversion activities, a precursor to the enrichment, in early August.

The EU insists that Iran must halt all work for nuclear fuel cycle construction, including uranium enrichment, while Tehran defends it as a legal right enshrined by the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.

The United States accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, a charge rejected by Tehran as politically motivated.

Source: Xinhua