Reuters: Iran will not discuss its nuclear programme in proposed talks with major powers, a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on Tuesday, further clouding the chances of progress in the long-running dispute.
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran will not discuss its nuclear programme in proposed talks with major powers, a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on Tuesday, further clouding the chances of progress in the long-running dispute.
Western diplomats have made clear they want Iran to address their concerns about its nuclear programme in talks that six major powers have offered to Tehran later this month.
It would be the first such meeting in over a year and also the first since the United Nations, the United States and the European Union imposed tougher sanctions on the major oil producer in recent months.
But the Islamic Republic is showing no sign of backing down in the row over nuclear work it says is for peaceful electricity production but the West suspects is aimed at developing bombs.
“Iran’s talks with (the six powers) will not be about Iran’s nuclear issue at all,” the ISNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.
He said this meant that a stalled proposal to swap some of Iran’s enriched uranium stocks for special fuel to run Tehran’s medical research reactor would not be on the agenda either.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Mark Heinrich)
