“We are optimistic about the outcomes of the negotiations and their continuation in Baghdad in line with resolving the nuclear issue while asserting Iran's absolute and legitimate rights,” Salehi said in a meeting with Egyptian cultural and media figures in Tehran on Tuesday.
He added that the Istanbul talks may be considered as a “starting point for an end to Iran's nuclear issue.”
The Iranian minister lauded the country’s great potential of self-sufficiency and self-reliance and emphasized that the replacement of an attitude of confrontation by Western states with that of collaboration was the significant achievement of the latest talks between Iran and the P5+1 -- Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany.
“During the Istanbul talks, it was proven that the Western countries are unable to force Iran to surrender and give up its absolute and legitimate rights to use peaceful nuclear energy by exerting political and economic pressure,” Salehi pointed out.
He reiterated that despite the pressure, Iran is making progress in the nuclear energy program, including the production of fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.
On April 7, Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Ghannadi said Iranian researchers have succeeded in producing fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor “according to schedule.”
Iran placed the first indigenous fuel rods into the heart of the Tehran Research Reactor on February 15. The fuel rods were produced at the Isfahan nuclear facility and transferred to the Tehran Research Reactor under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
By placing nuclear plates into the Tehran reactor, Iran has taken the final step in completing the nuclear fuel cycle.
Iran and the P5+1 wrapped up their latest negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul on April 14 and agreed to hold the next round of the talks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on May 23, 2012. Both sides hailed the talks as constructive.
It was the second time that Istanbul hosted the comprehensive talks between Iran and the six major world powers.
Tehran and the P5+1 had previously held two rounds of talks, one in Geneva in December 2010 and another in Istanbul in January 2011.
press tv/281
Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has expressed optimism about the outcomes of the talks between Iran and six major world powers (P5+1) in Istanbul and the settlement of Tehran’s nuclear issue.
News ID 181713
