Ali Bagheri: Nuclear talks must be constructive, otherwise it is a waste of time

Azerbaijan, Baku, June 26 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/ Nuclear talks between Iran and "5+1" group must be constructive, otherwise it is a waste of time, Deputy Secretary of the Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Bagheri said on Iran's Canal 2 TV channel. Iran and 5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany) held three sessions of talks in Baghdad on May 23 and 24 after an earlier round of negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul in mid-April. Another round of nuclear talks was held in Moscow on June 18-19. The Iranian negotiating delegation in the Moscow talks was led by Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili, and the P5+1 group of countries was headed by Catherine Ashton. According to Bagheri, Iran considers the nuclear negotiations serious, and does not use them as a tactical tool. "The 5+1 group is only interested in technical details, while Iran wants the talks to have both technical and political aspects," Bagheri said. At the end of two days of talks between Iran and the P5+1 - China, Russia, Britain, France, the US and Germany - on June 19, the sides agreed to hold a follow-on technical level meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul on July 3. The West, led by the United States, has imposed sanctions against Iran, accusing Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran has repeatedly dismissed the Western allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has every right to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.