Mottaki proposes: Iran, 5+1 extract modalities' commonalties

Tehran, Aug 2, IRNA - Iran's Foreign Minister said here both Iran and members of 5+1 group should in future talks extract common points within presented modalities, and to move towards compromise in process of constructive talks.

Manouchehr Mottaki who was speaking on latest developments regarding
Iran's nuclear program further elaborated at the closing ceremony of
the 15th NAM Foreign Ministers Conference Wednesday evening, "Both
Iran and the so called 5+1 group have presented modalities on the
matter."

He added, "The G5+1 presented its modality through (the EU Foreign
Policy Chief) Javier Solana to Tehran, who also declared we can
present our reply to it following surveying the modality." The head of Iran's diplomacy apparatus added, "We, too, prepared a modality and
presented it to the other side, in return." Mottaki reiterated, "There
were secret codes within the 5+1 modality, and there was also one
secret code within ours, which was proof for Iran's good will."
The foreign minister elaborated that one of those secret codes was the
phrase "agreed action", for which holding talks was necessary.

Mottaki reiterated that the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National
Security Council (SNSC) Saeid Jalili presented Iran's two-page
modality to the 5+1 members during the recent Geneva talks.

He reiterated, "Now the two sides should in their future talks extract
the common points within the two modalities, and move towards reaching
consensus in the course of constructive, legal, and natural talks."
Iran's top diplomat evaluated Solana's approach and the stands adopted
by him, both in Tehran and in Geneva talks as "positive." Mottaki
added, "For the first time six ministers of foreign affairs, including
the US Secretary of State, wrote letters to me, which were inclusive
of a number of important points."
He said, "The first point was that in that letter it is stressed that
Iran's right is recognized and the second point is that they had
emphasized that it is possible to reach final consensus over the
matter."
The head of Iran's diplomacy apparatus said, "Solana presented a
non-paper to us during Tehran talks and we asked them what are we to
do with it, which he said is the G5+1's modality for negotiations with
Tehran, to be surveyed and responded."
He added, "We told them we would present our viewpoints in a month,
which we did so in 15 days in a letter addressed to the G5+1 ministers
of foreign affairs, in which we had welcomed their prediction that
consensus might be reached."
Mottaki added, "The appointment for Jalili-Solana talks in Geneva was
fixed after that, marking the new round of Tehran-G5+1 negotiations."
The foreign minister added, "Despite certain analyses and misleading
information, in Geneva we were expected to present our viewpoints
regarding the 5+1 modality, which we did so in the framework of
presenting Iran's modality."
He emphasized, "The Islamic Republic of Iran, based on its military
doctrine, as well as our religious beliefs, is not inclined at all
towards manufacturing nuclear weapons, and as Iran's President
recently emphasized, if atomic bombs could solve crises and problems
they would have halted the process of disintegration of the former
Soviet Union, or led to the victory of Zionist regime in its 33-day
war on Lebanon."
Mottaki emphasized, "The era for usage of nuclear weapons is over."
He reiterated, "The decision to produce nuclear energy was adopted in
Iran 51 years ago."
Referring to Iran's candidacy for non-permanent UN Security Council
membership, Mottaki asked the NAM members to support that proposal.

Referring to the points of strength of Iran's foreign diplomacy in
past couple of years, he said, "The volume of Iran's trade with Asia
has more than doubled in past three years."


Iran's Foreign Minister at the end referred to Iran's potentials for
regional crisis solving, emphasizing, "The Iranian nation loves peace
and favors holding dialogues based on peace and justice." 2329**1420