Tehran’s right to enrichment non-negotiable: Jalili

TEHRAN, Jan. 17(MNA) -- The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said that Tehran will not negotiate on its right to uranium enrichment in its upcoming talks with the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) on January 21 and 22 in Istanbul.

SNSC Secretary Saeed Jalili, who is Iran’s main negotiator, made the remarks in an interview with the German newspaper Spiegel published on Sunday.

Jalili stated that according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, enriching uranium and having nuclear fuel cycle are the “inalienable” rights of the Iranian nation.

He added, “Our peaceful nuclear activities are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

Jalili also said that in Geneva talks it was agreed that the next round of the talks would focus on “cooperation based on common ground”, and if the 5+1 group adopts a positive view of the talks, there will be good potential and opportunities for cooperation.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the SNSC secretary stated that Iran will discuss fundamental problems of the world including the issue of nuclear disarmament in the Istanbul talks.

“Why the (global) nuclear disarmament was not realized? Why today there must be more than 200 nuclear warheads in Europe’s soil? I know that the people of Europe and Germany are very worried about this issue. These are the fundamental problems,” Jalili added.

Last year Iran hosted an international conference on nuclear disarmament. Iran has also proposed a nuclear-weapons free zone in the Middle East.

Iran, as a victim of chemical weapons, has launched a campaign for the annihilation of weapons of mass destruction in the world.