Speaking at a press conference after the talks, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili said that extensive and comprehensive talks were held to address an action plan proposed by Tehran based on the group’s response to proposals made in previous negotiations.
Iran and the P5+1 -- the US, Britain, China, France, and Russia plus Germany wrapped up their second round of negotiations on Saturday in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
Jalili said representatives from the P5+1 group sought clarification and raised many questions about the plan and received answers in full detail.
The Iranian official said that despite “some distance between the positions of Iran and the P5+1 group” on issues discussed, both sides have decided to remain in contact for further negotiations.
Jalili noted that Western countries “have to move away from a hostile approach toward Iran,” and that confidence-building is a “two-way avenue,” which should not deprive Iran of its rights.
In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Iran’s top negotiator said Iran entered the negotiations with a constructive approach and provided the P5+1 group with an operational plan with detailed steps based on the response the group gave to Tehran’s proposals in previous negotiations.
“At the end of talks they came to the conclusion that based on Iran initiative and also the proposals presented to them, they need to return to their capitals and also discuss these proposals with their respective authorities and later inform us about the outcome,” he added.
Commenting on Iran’s enrichment activity, Jalili said that “enrichment is our [Iran’s] right and we need this right…for the production of medicines.... We did not have the fuel. We asked them to provide us with the fuel, but they did not provide us with the fuel...so we had close to one million people in need of these type of medicines, we could not ignore this.”
Tehran and the P5+1 have held several rounds of talks. The previous round of talks took place in Almaty on February 26-27.
The US, Israel and some of their allies claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and the European Union using the false claim as pretext to impose illegal sanctions against Iran.
Tehran rejects the allegation over its nuclear energy activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.