The Vienna group (the United States, France, and Russia) has accepted the Tehran declaration as the basis for the upcoming talks over a nuclear fuel exchange deal, a top Iranian lawmaker says, Press TV reported.
"The basis for negotiations with the Vienna Group is the Tehran declaration and the group has accepted it for the new round of talks," Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi told the Mehr news agency on Friday.
"The members of the Vienna group had raised questions about the procedure and mechanism of the Tehran declaration, which have been answered by Iran, Turkey, and Brazil. Now they should take steps to implement the fuel swap since the founding philosophy of the group is to procure fuel for the Tehran research reactor," Boroujerdi added.
He said that the Vienna Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been hesitant about implementing the fuel exchange.
Commenting on whether there is the possibility of Turkey and Brazil participating in Iran's talks with P5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China, plus Germany), he said, "The content of Iran's negotiations with the P5+1 is the package of proposals presented by Iran. These two countries will not be present in these talks since this round of talks will broach Iran's proposals."
Previously, Turkey and Brazil had asked to be allowed participate in Iran's negotiations with the P5+1 group but the group rejected their request.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also said that one of Iran's conditions for resuming negotiations with the P5+1 group is an increase in the number of negotiating parties.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed a declaration in Tehran on May 17, according to which Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
However, despite Iran's initiative, on June 9 the UN Security Council ratified a new US-drafted sanctions resolution against Iran, targeting the country's financial and energy sectors.
Following the Security Council sanctions resolution, the United States, the European Union, Canada, and Australia imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran as part of the punitive measures over the country's uranium enrichment program.