Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili says Tehran insists on its naturally-endowed right to uranium enrichment activities and the nuclear fuel cycle within the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, PRESS TV reported.
"At the [Moscow] meeting, we explicitly announced that enrichment is Iran's absolute right and that enriching uranium for peaceful purposes is regarded as an absolute right," Jalili told reporters on Tuesday, drawing on Tehran's legitimate right to the activities as stated by NPT stipulations.
Iran and P5+1 (Great Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany) wrapped up two days of their latest round of talks in the Russian capital of Moscow on June 19. The sides agreed to host another meeting in Istanbul on July 3.
Earlier, Iran threatened to take the issue of the 20-percent uranium enrichment off the table if the other side failed to recognize Tehran's nuclear rights and lift sanctions.
The secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) called for an end to such behavior against Tehran, adding that Iran clearly and fully explained the reasons why it regards as illegal the resolutions imposed by the UN Security Council against the country.
He stressed the importance of holding expert-level meetings for the talks to turn out "successful."
I believe that they (the P5+1) are exposed to an important test to win the trust of the Iranian nation and should take steps in the path of cooperation with the Iranian people, Jalili pointed out.
He emphasized that there is no reason to toughen the sanctions or oppose the peaceful nuclear energy activities of the Islamic Republic.
The SNSC secretary expressed hope that the P5+1 would seize the existing chance to break the stalemate in the talks.
The senior Iranian official voiced Iran's readiness to prove the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic's views both in legal and political terms during the expert level meetings.
These meetings should be held in line with dialogues and cooperation, Jalili said, adding that any other approach would not yield results.
The Moscow meetings came after three sessions of plenary talks in Baghdad in May and an earlier round of negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul in mid-April.
The two sides had previously held two rounds of talks, one in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 2010, and another in Istanbul in January 2011.
The Iranian negotiating delegation was led by the SNSC secretary Jalili, and the P5+1 was headed by the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Edited by: S. Isayev