By DPA
Tehran : Iran is to discuss the dispute over its controversial nuclear programme with Russian officials in Moscow, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Sunday.
The spokesman said chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili would leave for Moscow Monday to discuss the issue with Russian officials.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is also reportedly scheduled to visit Moscow.
Russian and Iranian officials may also discuss the dispatch of Russian nuclear fuel – already inspected and sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – to the joint nuclear plant of Bushehr in southern Iran.
Jalili and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Friday in London but the talks ended without any results with Solana calling them “disappointing.”
Like Jalili, Hosseini also tried to play down Solana’s remarks and said that the two sides were still to discuss the issue.
Referring to press reports that the world powers would soon approve a new UN Security Council resolution against Iran, Hosseini said IAEA reports should be the sole basis for objective and non-politicised evaluations of the case.
“Important in this case would be the continued cooperation course between Iran and the IAEA and talks of a new UN resolution or sanctions would have no legal justification,” the spokesman told reporters in his weekly press briefing in Tehran.
“The fact is that any expectations beyond the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty would not be acceptable for Iran,” Hosseini said, reiterating Iran’s renewed rejection of the main international demand, suspension of the uranium enrichment process.
The spokesman said that within the work plan between Iran and the IAEA all ambiguities over Iran’s nuclear programme have been removed and only three issues remain to be discussed and settled with IAEA inspectors on Dec 11.