Brussels, 08/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Helga Schmit, European External Action Service Deputy Secretary General with responsibility for the Iranian nuclear issue, called on Iran, on Thursday 7 June, to open in-depth discussions in negotiations on its nuclear programme. In a letter to her Iranian interlocutor, Dr Ali Bagheri, she repeats that the E3+3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and China, Russia the United States) is ready to engage in discussions on the proposal it made at the previous meeting, in Baghdad on 23-24 May, and states that “we would feel very encouraged if Iran were now ready to enter into these discussions”. “It remains the collective conviction of the E3+3 that this proposal continues to represent the most promising basis for moving our discussions towards achieving concrete results at an early stage”, she says.
“We are very much hoping for a political commitment on your side”, she goes on, pointing out that, in Baghdad, Iran “was not prepared to take up our suggestion to enter into discussions on the substance of the proposal”.
On Wednesday 6 June, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West of wanting to waste time in these negotiations by refusing preparatory meetings before the Moscow meeting due to take place on 18-19 June. “The Iranian people is committed to negotiation but the major powers do not seem to want to find a solution … and very probably they will not allow the matter to be resolved in Moscow” he told the Isna agency. “We hope that the 5+1 group of countries will be realistic in taking part in the Moscow meeting and their decisions will respect Iran's right” to develop a civil nuclear programme, said Ali Akbar Velayati, Adviser on International Affairs to the Supreme Leader. (CG/transl.rt)