Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili says Iran will never agree to engage in talks "in an atmosphere of pressure and sanctions", Press TV reported.
During the third round of two-day talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) in Geneva, Jalili said the prerequisite for further talks is for the West to put an end to the pressure trend, as Iran will not take part in talks if the atmosphere of pressure persists.
Representatives from both Iran and the P5+1 group stressed that any future talks should focus on common concerns, and that negotiations on issues that are matters of conflict can only be carried out through commonalities, the SNSC said in a statement.
During the two-day meeting, the Iranian top negotiator urged the European Union Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton and other representatives from P5+1 to respond more clearly to questions that were raised in his July 6 letter.
Jalili said an important question that the six major world powers need to clarify is, "Who has provided Israel with nuclear weapons, since it is a clear violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."
He asked the European side if they do not feel threatened by the fact that 210 US nuclear warheads are installed in Europe, the statement said, adding that P5+1 representatives had pledged to respond to the questions.
On the first day of the multifaceted talks, the Iranian delegation noted that Tehran's nuclear rights are non-negotiable.
Monday's talks focused on last week's terrorist attacks in Tehran targeting two Iranian nuclear scientists. Jalili lashed out at the West's silence over the attacks, which left one Iranian scientist dead and another injured.
At the end of the third round of the talks, Iran and P5+1 agreed to hold the next round of talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul in late January.
Dialogue between Iran and the P5+1 was stalled in October 1, 2009, after the Vienna Group tried to pressure Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium out of the country in exchange for reactor fuel from potential suppliers such as Russia and France.
Iran did not agree with the proposal, citing the West's refusal to provide any concrete guarantees that Tehran would receive the fuel in due time.
Iran issued a joint nuclear fuel swap declaration with Turkey and Brazil on May 17, under which it expressed readiness to exchange 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium on Turkish soil with 20 percent-enriched nuclear fuel.
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