“It is Iran’s inalienable right to enjoy nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Ramin Mehmanparast said in an interview with Serbian state TV on Thursday.
“The Iranian nation will not relinquish its inalienable rights under Western sanctions,” he added.
Referring to Iran-P5+1 talks, the Iranian official said that while Tehran is ready for cooperation and negotiations it will firmly standby its rights.
Iran and the P5+1 group of powers, comprising Britain, France, Russia, China, the United States and Germany, wrapped up their latest negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul on April 14.
The parties agreed to hold the next round of talks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on May 23, 2012. Both sides hailed the discussions as constructive.
The two sides have already held two rounds of talks, one in Geneva in December 2010 and another in Istanbul in January 2011.
Iran has been subjected to a range of political and economic sanctions by the West over the past thirty years following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in the country in 1979.
More recent sanctions by the West against Iran have been seeking to impede the country’s nuclear energy program under the unverified allegations that it may include a non-civilian diversion.
Iran refutes such claims, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to utilize nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
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The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman insists that while Tehran always remains prepared for cooperation and talks, it will never renounce its indisputable rights to peaceful nuclear technology.
News ID 181719
