Iran, European Union agree on formula for nuclear talks

Apr 13, 2009, 10:16 GMT

   Tehran - Iran and the European Union (EU) agreed to resume talks over Iran's controversial nuclear programme, state television network IRIB reported Monday.

   During a telephone conversation between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saaid Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the two sides agreed to pursue talks between Tehran and the so-called 5+1 group.

   The group consists of the five UN Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany.

   The IRIB report did not disclose the date or venue of the new round of negotiations, in which the US has agreed, unlike in the past years, to take part directly.

   Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday declared his readiness to join nuclear talks with the US, but once again rejected the main demand by the 5+1 group to suspend uranium enrichment.

   Ahmadinejad said Iran would not make any concessions on its nuclear rights, saying as it has followed Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regulations.

   The Iranian president however reacted positively to the call by US President Barack Obama, for a world without nuclear weapons and an immediate end to nuclear testing, saying that Tehran would even be ready to do its share.

   Iran's Atomic Energy Organization claimed last week that the country had added 1,000 more nuclear centrifuges to its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, central Iran, about 1,500 more than UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA reported just six weeks ago.