‘Strategic consensus’ possible in talks

“If there is a serious will among the P5+1 negotiators to take practical steps, the Moscow talks serve as a good potential in bringing about noticeable achievements for either side,” said Mohammad Ali Hosseini in a press roundtable in Rome with Italian media outlets on Thursday night.

Referring to a recent phone conversation between Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili and the lead P5+1 negotiator, European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Hosseini said both expressed optimism about reaching common points during the Moscow talks, based on proposals submitted by both sides in earlier negotiations.

In their phone dialogue, Ashton expressed hope that both sides could find common grounds during the upcoming Moscow summit, based on Iran’s proposal and the P5+1 package, while Jalili stressed the need to respect agreements reached in previous P5+1 talks in Baghdad and Istanbul.

The Iranian envoy in Italy also highlighted the official Islamic decree announced by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei forbidding any production, use or storage of nuclear arms, emphasizing that the firm ruling should serve as a positive step on the part of the Islamic Republic.

He went on to add that “in turn, we expect the other side (P5+1) to recognize our nation’s right to enrich uranium according to what the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has provided for all its members.”

The P5+1 group consists of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States – plus Germany.

During the press forum, the Iranian diplomat also discussed Iran’s policy towards the ongoing Syrian crisis, firmly rejecting interference by Western powers and a number of regional countries in the internal affairs of Syria, reiterating that such meddling would lead to an escalation of the situation in the country and cause uncontrollable unrest.

Moreover, the Iranian ambassador cautioned foreign powers that the Syrian situation has become so delicate that any outside military intervention would lead to a “huge regional explosion.”

Hosseini also pointed to the persisting brutal crackdown on popular protests in Bahrain by the ruling regime, rejecting meddling measures by some regional states in the Persian Gulf kingdom as ineffective and against the interests of all regional nations.

MFB/GHN/AZ

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