AFP: Iran’s new chief nuclear negotiator Said Jalili is set to meet EU foreign policy head Javier Solana later this month in a new bid to resolve the international standoff over Tehran’s atomic drive. TEHRAN (AFP) Iran’s new chief nuclear negotiator Said Jalili is set to meet EU foreign policy head Javier Solana later this month in a new bid to resolve the international standoff over Tehran’s atomic drive.
“The two sides agreed during a phone call on a meeting at the end of November,” Javad Vaidi, deputy head of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying on Sunday by the state news agency IRNA.
Solana and Jalili, who is close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, met for the first time in October for talks both sides described as “constructive.”
Jalili, whose appointment has been viewed as possibly signalling a tougher stance in the long-running dispute over Iran’s atomic programme, took over as chief nuclear negotiator in October.
The move came after Ali Larijani resigned, reportedly because of a falling out with Ahmadinejad over the handling of the dossier.
Iran has so far defied international calls to suspend uranium enrichment, saying its programme is solely for civilian energy purposes, and denies Western accusations it is trying to build a nuclear bomb.
The UN Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran and is considering more.
