Tehran, September 12: The US, the four other permanent UN Security Council member countries and Germany seek an early meeting with Iran over Tehran’s new package of proposals.
The decision which was made after a telephone conference between the members on Friday followed an Iranian overture for talks made to the so-called “P5+1” group earlier this week.
The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Chief Javier Solana, who has represented the P5+1 in talks with Iran, contacted the office of Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili to arrange a meeting on behalf of the group, ILNA reported on Friday.
The US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley said the main issue to be raised in the meeting should be Teheran’s nuclear program, claiming that the diplomatic proposal from Tehran did not address concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Clearly the Iranian paper does not reply to these concerns,” he said. “It does not cover the nuclear issue. That’s precisely why we think we need an early meeting. We’re not interested in talking for talking’s sake.”
The talks would be a face-to-face encounter between diplomats of the two countries (Iran-US), which have not had formal relations in 30 years.
Iran submitted its package of proposals to the representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on Wednesday.
Earlier, the US had called the proposals unresponsive to its concerns. However, Russia said the package could serve as a basis for negotiations.
—–Agencies