Iran and the P5+1 officials hold nuclear talks in the Kazakh city of Almaty on April 6, 2013.
The United States plans to communicate with the Iranian president-elect to inform him of its desire to hold direct talks over the Islamic Republicâ„¢s nuclear energy program, a new report says.
The Saturday report by The Wall Street Journal said that senior US officials are meeting with representatives of the four other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany on Tuesday in Brussels to discuss how to engage with President-elect Hassan Rohani over the nuclear issue.
“We are open to direct talks, and we want to reinforce this in any way [we can],” the report quoted a senior US official who is set to take part in the Brussels meeting.
Iran and the P5+1 –the US, UK, France, China, and Russia plus Germany –have held several rounds of talks on a range of issues, with the main focus being on Tehranâ„¢s nuclear energy program.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign-policy chief, said on Friday that the group is Å“keen to make concrete progress in the talks (with Iran)”.
Rohani was Iranâ„¢s chief nuclear negotiator from October 2003 to August 2005.
The US, Israel and some of their allies falsely claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with Washington and the European Union using the unfounded claim as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on Iran.
Tehran strongly rejects the allegation over its nuclear energy activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
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Republished with permission from: Press TV