Tehran, Iran, May 31
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani is the first person on a list that Western powers have asked for an interview with.
The Western powers which are negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program as members of the group 5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) have asked for interviews with 23 Iranian officials. The Iranian negotiation team, however has rejected their request.
Announcing the news, Shamkhani said that it is not clear what questions the Western powers intend to pose to him, IRIB news agency reported on May 31.
Shamkhani said that the nuclear talks follow Western powers' realization that they cannot pose a military threat to Iran.
The group 5+1 are in intense talks to hammer out a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran by the end of June. The deal is supposed to limit Iran's nuclear activities on one hand and on the other, remove sanctions on the country's economy.
Plus, they saw that by putting Iran under sanctions, Iran would not only not stop its nuclear program, but it did in fact make some progress there, the former naval commander said.
Along with having the International Atomic Energy Agency inspect Iran's military sites, the interviews with the 23 Iranian officials and nuclear scientists are two items requested by the six powers as a precondition for making a deal with Iran.
Iran has so far resisted the requests by saying they fall beyond the normal scope of its cooperation with the IAEA.
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