Iran’s negotiations with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) can play an effective role in resolving other regional problems as well as the Western standoff with Tehran over its nuclear energy program, Mansour said in a meeting with Iran's Ambassador to Beirut Ghazanfar Roknabadi on Thursday.
The Iranian envoy briefed the Lebanese minister on the latest developments in Iran-P5+1 talks and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always reiterated its right to make peaceful use of nuclear energy.”
Iran and P5+1 - Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany - have held several rounds of talks mainly over Iran’s nuclear energy program. The two sides wrapped up their latest round of negotiations in Almaty on April 6 after an earlier meeting in the Kazakh city on February 26-27.
The US, Israel and some of their allies falsely claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and the European Union using the 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 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The Lebanese foreign minister and Iranian ambassador also exchanged views on bilateral relations and regional issues.
Roknabadi pointed to the region’s sensitive situation, insisted that regional problems should be settled by regional states and urged regional nations to maintain their unity and solidarity against their sole common enemy, namely the Israeli regime.
“In Lebanon, Iran has always been an advocate of unity and convergence in confronting this occupying regime (Israel),” he said.