Iran Defeats Warmongers' Front In Istanbul Talks

Kuala Lumpur, April 17, IRNA – Iran defeated warmongers’ international front by holding successful talks with G5+1 in Istanbul, Center for Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia Expert Ahmed Al Fara said on Monday. Al Fara made the remarks in an exclusive interview with IRNA. “However, the Zionist-American front tried to prevent the holding and success of Istanbul talks but it was held successfully.” “Nothing even military threats could stop Iran’ stress on its right to have access to peaceful nuclear energy; return of the West to the negotiations table is the outcome of Iran’s successful diplomacy; negotiations proved to be the only option in resolution of IR Iran’s nuclear issue.” Al Fara called the occupying force of Zionist regime as the cause of troubles in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, advising the US officials not to follow Zionists' line. “Tel-Aviv's possible attack against Iran is nothing more than a dream and Tehran’s retaliation will be crushing; the West accepted Iran’s nuclear activities for peaceful purposes and this is a big achievement for IR of Iran.” After more than a year of stalled talks, Iran and the Group 5+1 eventually accepted last month to resume their negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 14 and in case of good progress hold a second round of talks in Iraq's capital city, Baghdad. The two sides attended two meetings at Istanbul's Lutfil Kirdar Hall Saturday. Ashton led the delegations of the world powers, while the Iranian side was headed by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary. At the first round of talks, the Iranian team of negotiators called on the western parties to take proper measures to build Iran's confidence. Both Iran’s top negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced satisfaction with the Saturday talks. Jalili asserted before and after talks that “Iran is ready to have successful and progressive talks for further cooperation, and is hopeful that the opposite party to the negotiations would enter the talks with a similar approach in order for the new round of talks to produce results which would build the Iranian nation's trust.” “What was discussed in the talks today was an emphasis on our nation's nuclear rights based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).' EU foreign policy chief retreated from its previous illegal demands and said after the talks in a news conference that 'We have agreed that the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) forms a key basis for what must be serious engagement to ensure all the obligations under the treaty are met by Iran while fully respecting Iran's right for the peaceful use of nuclear energy,'. She told the news conference that Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany held 'constructive and useful' talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Saturday, adding that the next meeting in Iraq on May 23 must 'take us forward in a very concrete way.' 'We expect subsequent meetings will lead to concrete steps towards a comprehensive negotiated solution which restores confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program,' Ashton said. The last meeting between the two sides took place in Istanbul in January 2011. Iran and the G5+1 had also held two rounds of multifaceted talks in Geneva in December 2010. Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any compelling evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population due to the fact that the country's fossil fuel would eventually run dry. Despite the rights enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment. Tehran has dismissed the West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing those sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians national resolve to continue with the civilian program./end