Iran to present ‘new initiatives’ in Istanbul

TEHRAN

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Jalili (L) is seen with EU foreign policy chief Ashton in this 2011 photo. ‘The Iranian delegation will have new initiatives in nuclear talks,’ Jalili says. AP photo

Iran will present “new initiatives” at nuclear talks with world powers in Istanbul at the weekend, country’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said yesterday.

“The Iranian delegation will have new initiatives and we hope that the other party will have a constructive approach,” he told Iran’s Arab-language television Al-Alam, without elaborating, Agence France-Presse reported. Jalili, who is close to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, also warned the Western nations taking part not to try to add to coercive pressure on Iran. “The language of threat and pressure has never yielded results and only reinforces the determination of the Iranian people,” he said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad echoed that statement in separate comments carried by the official news agency IRNA. “The language of force and insults will give no result,” he was quoted as saying. The 204 MPs in the 290-seat parliament also underlined Iran’s “opposition to nuclear weapons” as voiced by Khamenei. Sadeq Larijani, the head of Iran’s justice system, said the West should know that Khamenei’s word “is the greatest possible guarantee” because “all the institutions in the Islamic republic’s regime serve under his orders,” IRNA reported. Meanwhile, Turkish ambassador to Iran, Ümit Yardım, said his country hopes for positive results of the upcoming negotiations between Tehran and the 5+1.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparas also expressed hope that the negotiations would be held in a positive and constructive atmosphere.