Chief Negotiator: Iran determined to defend rights in talks with powers

Undersecretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Baqeri said Iranian negotiators in talks with the the six world powers are always insistent on materializing Tehran's nuclear rights based on international rules and treaties."The Islamic Republic of Iran in all negotiations has emphasized and is emphasizing on the legal aspect of talks in such a way that it can achieve its rights based on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Baqeri said in an interview with the IRIB on Thursday night.Baqeri described the talks between Iran and the G5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, earlier this month as a turning point.He pointed to the fact there are three political, technical and legal sections in the nuclear field, and said, "In this round of talks, they changed their calculations and Iran also did not accept their offers and the Iranian negotiators said that they can merely be studied."Last week, Iran and the six world powers wrapped up their 4th round of talks after two days of intensive negotiations in Almaty.The Iranian team was led by Saeed Jalili, who is also the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), and the G5+1's representatives were presided by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.Iran had announced a day prior to the start of the talks that it would enter the negotiations with the G5+1 with clear, groundbreaking proposals.Iran has so far ruled out halting or limiting its nuclear work in exchange for trade and other incentives, saying that renouncing its rights under the NPT would encourage the world powers to put further pressure on the country and would not lead to a change in the West's hardline stance on Tehran.Iran is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment. The United States and the European Union have ratcheted up their sanctions on Iran this year to force it to curb its nuclear program.Iranian officials have always shrugged off the sanctions, saying that pressures make them strong and reinvigorate their resolve to further move towards self-sufficiency.