Iran on Tuesday set September 1 as a possible date for the resumption of nuclear talks with six world powers which have been stalled since October, but insisted conditions set by Tehran must first be met.
The Islamic republic at the same time rejected claims by some of its officials that airports in Britain, Germany and the United Arab Emirates had refused to refuel its passenger planes, in line with latest US sanctions on Tehran. Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that the country’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, in a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said that Tehran needed three issues clarified by the world powers before it could consider resuming talks. Ms Ashton, who is negotiating with Iran on behalf of the so-called P5+1 powers Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany had invited Tehran for talks soon after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on the Islamic republic on June 9. Mr Jalili said the world powers must answer whether the talks are aimed at “engagement and cooperation or continued confrontation and hostility towards Iranians.”
“Will you be committed to the logic of talks which calls for avoiding threats and pressure?” he asked, and added that the six powers must air a “clear view” on the “Zionist regime’s nuclear arsenal.” Israel, which has West Asia’s sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has backed US-led efforts to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapons capabilit.