Islamic Republic ready for nuclear talks in Vienna

Saed Jalili - Catherine Ashton

In a letter to EU head of foreign policy, Catherine Ashton, Iran's Supreme National Security Council announced that they are prepared to continue negotiations with the 5+1 group.

Iranian media report that Iran indicated that they are prepared to continue talks over nuclear issues following November 10.

On October 22, Catherine Ashton had proposed mid-November as a time to continue negotiations with Iran in Vienna.

Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki had approved of the proposed time and date for negotiations earlier.

Saeed Jalili, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council responded to Ashton’s proposal in a letter saying that the objective of the talks should be “interaction and collaboration with complete refrain from threats and pressure.”

In his trip to New York, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also announced Iran’s willingness to continue negotiations with G5+1.

Last fall, during negotiations between Iran and the G5+1, the parties agreed that Iran would exchange its enriched uranium with fuel provided by a G5+1 representative country for its Tehran research reactor. However, the agreement was stalled over the place of this exchange which eventually brought the talks to an impasse.