Reuters: Russia and Iran resumed nuclear talks on Monday, a senior official said on Tuesday, suggesting there could still be life in a proposal that Moscow enrich uranium on Iran’s behalf. TEHRAN (Reuters) – Russia and Iran resumed nuclear talks on Monday, a senior official said on Tuesday, suggesting there could still be life in a proposal that Moscow enrich uranium on Iran’s behalf.
Iran has been reported to the U.N. Security Council after failing to convince the international community that its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful.
“(Ali) Hosseinitash, strategic deputy of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), with the Iranian delegation, took part in talks in Moscow on Monday,” SNSC Spokesman Hossein Entezami told the official IRNA news agency.
He did not specify whether the talks centred on the original Russian proposal, designed to reassure the international community that Iranian uranium would not be diverted into warheads.
Earlier talks made no progress on this proposal with the Iranians refusing to surrender their right to enrich uranium on their own soil. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was “disappointed” by Iran’s conduct in the talks.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday the Russian proposal was no longer on Iran’s agenda.
But Russian officials and Entezami rejected Asefi’s remarks and said Tehran-Moscow diplomacy would continue.
