Diplomat dismisses western ploy about Almaty talks

The West's failure to reach its most desirable results in the recent talks with Iran in Almaty, Kazakhstan, is the reason behind the western media's negative propaganda about the talks, a diplomat said Monday.Speaking to FNA, a diplomat who was present in the Almaty talks between Iran and the six world powers pointed to the western media claims that the talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) ended in failure, and stated that the West is unsatisfied with the talks because it has not been able to obtain the results that it desired."The six countries (the US, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany) cannot reach their desirable results as long as they are not ready to take the primary steps towards cooperation which should be simultaneous and equal (to Iran's confidence-building steps) and as long as they refuse to recognize Iran's enrichment rights," the diplomat said.After two days of talks between Iran and the sextet, Iran's lead negotiator Saeed Jalili described the latest round of talks with the world powers in Kazakhstan as "good", and said the two sides still need to work out solutions to narrow down their gap."We presented a comprehensive plan 10 months ago and Iran presented its plan of action for the Moscow proposals in this round. This plan of action was a revised version of the proposal that the Group 5+1 presented in Almaty 1 (on February 26-27) and contained the considerations raised during the experts meeting (in Istanbul from March 17 to 18)," Jalili told reporters after four rounds of talks with the representatives of the six world powers on Friday and Saturday."A part of these initiatives of ours came in response to the 5+1's Almaty 1 proposals which had the capacity for change (to move) ahead," he added.He said that the two sides had detailed discussions over the operational aspects of Iran's proposal, and that his team provided detailed answers to the world powers' ambiguities and questions.Yet, the Iranian chief negotiator said "the two sides' views are away from each other".Jalili reiterated Iran's legitimate rights, including the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, and underlined that Iran welcomes talks for cooperation.He urged the six world powers to build Iran's confidence, and said that "recognition of the enrichment right (of Iran) and putting an end to hostile behaviors towards the Iranian nation" are the way to build Tehran's confidence.In this regard, he said, the 5+1 representatives raised their government's views and asked for further assessment of Iran's new initiatives."Mr. Ashton is due to meet the foreign ministers of the 6 countries to discuss how the trend of the talks should be moved ahead and will then have a phone contact with me," Jalili added.He said "the talks were good" and described Iran's new proposals as a test of the world powers' honesty about confidence building.