Iran's deputy foreign minister for consular, parliamentary, and Iranians affairs has hailed the outcome of the recent negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group in Kazakhstan as a step forward.
“Compared with the [previous round of talks in the] Moscow meeting, the talks in [the Kazakh city of] Almaty were a step forward,” Hassan Qashqavi said on Monday.
Qashqavi noted that the progress in the talks with the P5+1 (permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) “does not mean that all the issues have been resolved.”
“However, since the time and venue of the next round of talks have been announced, no interruption has occurred in the negotiations, and reasonable frameworks have been offered by both sides, it follows that this move [the Almaty talks] has been a step forward and we hope it will serve our national interests.”
Iran and the P5+1 held their latest round of talks in Almaty on February 26 and 27.
Both sides agreed to meet in Almaty again on April 5-6 for the next round of negotiations after holding expert-level talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on March 17-18.
Qashqavi went on to say that although Western embargoes and pressures against Iran over its nuclear energy program are at their peak, they have failed to fulfill their main objective which is to derail Iran’s nuclear energy program.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Over the false allegation, Washington and the European Union have imposed several rounds of illegal unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Ball is in Iran's court, and they know the bottom line .. i'd love to see the detail on the latest P5+1 offer, yet believe it surely must be a fairer one that it would be if Bush were at the helm.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”