Iran offers proposals in Almaty talks

Iran offered the world powers specific proposals for resolving the country's nuclear program in the new round of talks which began Friday in the Kazakh city of Almaty, Press TV reported. Iranian deputy nuclear negotiator Ali Baqeri said Iran has offered the P5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany) "clear proposals to launch a new round of cooperation" between the two sides. "Iran believes that what is referred to as a confidence- building step or the measures both sides should agree upon and undertake is part of the comprehensive solution," Baqeri said without further elaboration. Also, a European Union (EU) spokesman said in Almaty that representatives of the six world powers and Iran discussed Tehran' s proposals at the ongoing round of talks on Friday. Everything will depend on how the discussions on Tehran's offers presented to the international brokers proceed, Michal Mann, spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, told reporters shortly after the talks started. Tehran's right to pursue its nuclear program can be recognized only if Iran manages to prove to the international community that its nuclear technologies are exclusively civilian, said Mann. The P5+1 group simply hopes to receive a concrete answer from Iran, he said, referring to an earlier proposal by the world powers asking Tehran to suspend its enrichment of uranium and disable the underground Fordow facility in exchange for sanction relief.