Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 18 / Trend, N. Umid
Former Iranian Foreign Minister and current head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, has recalled the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's agreement on direct Iran-US talks during an interview to Fars news agency.
About 18 months ago, Iran's Foreign Ministry came to a conclusion on direct negotiations with the United States, Salehi said, adding that Khamenei agreed the issue.
The Supreme Leader remarked that he is not against IRAN-US direct talks, the former FM added.
The Iranian and U.S. FMs met in New York after 34 years and the two countries' presidents talked for the first time via telephone later in September.
On October 5, Khamanei said he supports the developments which occurred during Rouhani's New York visit, adding that "some issues were not very suitable."
Some Iranian media outlets and in particular the radical Keyhan newspaper, claimed that Zarif has confessed that his meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as well as President Hassan Rouhani's phone talk with his counterpart Barack Obama were subject to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's criticism.
However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham criticised the media for publishing unreal information.
Commenting on Iran's negotiations with the P5+1 group, Salehi said that if the United States does not want an agreement with Iran, European countries will not accept the agreement.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, known as P5+1, held a new round of talks on Tehran's nuclear energy programme in Geneva on October 15 and 16. Both sides announced that the negotiations were held in a positive atmosphere.
The US has accepted that cannot manage the regional issues without Iran's participation, he said, adding that the United States knows that Iran is the stability harbour of the Middle East.
Salehi underlined that achieving an agreement with Iran will provide peace for the region. He also said that the region's peaceful situation will increase Iran's development's speed.
Iran needs cooperation with developed countries for expanding its technological achievements, Salehi said.
"Iran builds centrifuges and enriches uranium, but at a low efficiency," while it can increase it through cooperation with developed countries, he remarked.