Iran’s new chief nuclear negotiator has given his backing to talks to resolve its atomic standoff with the West, while insisting that Tehran will not give up its plans to develop a full nuclear fuel cycle.
“Iran deems it a principle to continue talks and it accepts negotiation as the right manner,” Ali Larijani, installed as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Monday, told the Sharq daily in an interview published on Tuesday.
European diplomats have expressed concern that Larijani, a conservative close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will adopt a tougher line on the nuclear issue than his predecessor Hassan Rohani.
Larijani takes over the nuclear portfolio with Iran in the international spotlight after removing U.N. seals at a nuclear facility and resuming uranium conversion — a process which yields material that can be used to make atomic bombs.
Iran, which says its nuclear program will only be used to generate electricity, rejected a resolution adopted by the U.N. atomic watchdog last week calling on it to halt all nuclear fuel work.
But Larijani said a solution to the dispute could be found.
“We can reach a conclusion with a win-win situation defined for both sides... We should try to solve the problem in a friendly way and our objective is still preserving the fuel cycle,” he said.
Iran angered the European Union and the United States by resuming uranium conversion at the Isfahan plant on Aug. 8 after rejecting an EU offer of political and economic incentives in return for giving up its nuclear program.
Iranian officials have said they will never suspend work at the plant again and Tehran now wants to discuss resuming the most sensitive part of the nuclear fuel cycle — uranium enrichment — at its facility in Natanz.
“Natanz is a part of our fuel cycle and we insist on it. However, it should pass the channel of negotiations,” Larijani said.
About 300 Iranian students gathered at the Isfahan nuclear plant on Tuesday to stage a noisy demonstration in support of Iran’s nuclear program.
