State Dept: U.S. ready for direct Iran talks based on mutual respect
The U.S. has always welcomed direct negotiations with Iran based on mutual respect, U.S. Department of State's Persian language spokesperson, Alan Eyre told Trend news agency in an interview on Monday.
Vice President Joe Biden told a security conference on Saturday that the U.S. is prepared to talk directly with Iran but insisted Tehran must show it is serious. Reacting to Biden's statement, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi welcomed the United States' willingness to hold direct talks with Tehran in the standoff over its nuclear program but he said that Iran doesn't commit to accept the offer.
Before, Iran's parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said during an interview with al-Alam TV channel that direct talks with the U.S. is not Iran's "red line".
Regarding this issue, Eyre said the U.S. pursues dual-way approach in Iran's nuclear program by cooperating with P5+1.
"Washington and six major powers continue making pressure alongside diplomatic negotiation policy over Iran to encourage Tehran to commit to all of its international obligations in nuclear sphere," Eyre said.
"The U.S. has always welcomed direct talks with Iran, but Iran has preferred to avoid bilateral meetings. However, this avoidance doesn't matter, the major issue is Iran's decision to eliminate all of international concerns about its disputed nuclear program," Eyre told during the interview.
"What is important for us is that whether Iran is ready to serious talks with P5+1 or not," the U.S. official underscored.
Nuclear talks between Iran and six major powers including the U.S., France, the UK, Russia, China + Germany were suspended after last meeting in last June held in Russia.
Last month Iran proposed to hold the nuclear talks in Egypt, but the P5+1 reportedly rejected the offer.
Finally, Iran's Foreign Minister Salehi said on Sunday that the next place for nuclear talks would be Kazakhstan on Feb.25.
Eyre said the mutual respect, action and step-by-step progress are the Washington's principles for direct talks with Iran. "The sooner Iran starts committing its nuclear obligations, the sooner the international sanctions could be eliminated," he underlined.
Eyre said the international community has serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program but as President Barak Obama mentioned last November, there should be a way for Iran to have peaceful nuclear program based on that in framework of Non-Proliferation Treaty.
According to him, Iran should give clear and reliable guarantee for international community which proves this country is not pursuing the nuclear weapon.
Iran has lost about 40 percent of its oil export, alongside 45 percent of collecting oil export revenues during 2012, an Iranian MP quoted Petroleum Minister Rostam Qasemi as saying last month. According to the reports, Iran lost about $60 billion of oil revenues in 2012 compared to 2011.
OPEC's latest monthly report published on January indicates 658, 000 bpd drop in Iran's crude oil production level in 2012 compared to average output of 2011.