By RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Iran is ready to hold talks on its nuclear programme with the West without any preconditions, a senior Iranian official said Tuesday.
“Iran’s main position on talks regarding (the country’s) nuclear programme is that discussions should be held without any preliminary conditions,” said Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The US and other Western countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a peaceful nuclear programme. Tehran has denied the accusations, saying its nuclear programme is for civilian energy purposes only.
Iran is under a series of UN Security Council sanctions amid demands that it cease enriching uranium that could possibly used for the development of nuclear arms.
At the beginning of April, the Group of Six (Germany, China, the US, France, Britain, and Russia) asked Iran to return to the negotiation table to discuss its nuclear programme, and the G8 countries reiterated the request in July, calling for Tehran to return to talks before September.
World leaders will again review Iran’s nuclear programme during a G20 summit scheduled Sep 24-25 in Pittsburgh.
Experts believe that Iran will in the near future acquire the capacity to build a nuclear bomb and conduct a nuclear test similar to the one carried out by North Korea in May.
Tehran announced in late February that it had 6,000 operating centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility.