Ahead of the comprehensive talks between Iran and major world powers in Turkey, Iranian permanent representative to the UN has warned the US and the West against any miscalculations on the Islamic Republic, Press TV reported.
"The West's miscalculation on regional and international capabilities of the Islamic Republic has led Western states to pursue wrong policies in the region. This has inflicted heavy losses on them," said Mohammad Khazaei in a Tuesday press briefing in New York among US and international journalist, quoted by IRNA.
The Iranian official cited the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries in the region as samples of such wrong policies.
He emphasized that the upcoming multifaceted talks between Iran and the P5+1 -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany -- in the Turkish city of Istanbul on January 21 and 22 would be an "opportunity" for the West to cooperate with Iran in various fields.
Khazaei expressed Iran's readiness to hold productive talks in Istanbul, reiterating that Tehran is firmly determined to resolve political, security, economic and energy issues at regional and international levels.
"We will not negotiate on our peaceful nuclear rights. To the Islamic Republic, interaction in these talks is a strategy and not a tactic to buy time," he emphasized.
The Iranian envoy stressed that constructive talks based on justice and mutual respect without any preconditions would be the mere solution and said, "However, if the other side adopts another approach, Iran will respond accordingly."
"The negotiations can build confidence and keep doors open to (expand) comprehensive cooperation between the sides based on a variety of interests," he went on to say.
During the last round of multifaceted talks between Iran and the P5+1, held in the Swiss city of Geneva on December 6-7, the sides agreed to continue negotiations in Turkey in late January.
The comprehensive talks were held between Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the P5+1.
The United States and its allies have accused Iran of the intention of also pursuing a military nuclear program, using the allegation as a pretext to pressure the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran's financial and military sectors in June.
Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted the charges, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has the right to use peaceful nuclear technology.