Iranian official hails Kazakhstan's stance on Iranian nuclear issue
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Oceania Seyed Abbas
Araqchi lauded Kazakhstan' stance in dealing with the Iran-West
nuclear standoff, Fars News Agency reported.
"We have previously said that any country which voluntarily
implements the US unilateral sanctions against Iran would no longer
be considered as an impartial state, and Kazakhstan is among those
countries which has not enforced the US unilateral sanctions,"
Araqchi said on Wednesday.
Araqchi made the remarks while commenting on the reason behind
choosing Kazakhstan as the host of the upcoming talks between Iran
and Group 5+1 ( the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus
Germany) which is to be held on February 26.
"There is a difference between sanctions imposed on Iran by the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and those which were
unilaterally imposed on the country by the US," Araqchi told
reporters.
"All nations are bound to implement the UNSC's sanctions while US
forces other nations to enforce its unilateral sanctions against
other countries," the diplomat added.
Deputy chief negotiators of Iran and the G5+1 agreed on the date
and venue of the next round of talks between Iran and the six world
powers.
Iran's deputy chief negotiator Ali Baqeri and EU foreign policy
deputy chief Helga Schmitt in a phone talk on Tuesday agreed that
the next round of talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 be held in
Kazakhstan on February 26.
The last round of talks between Iran and the five permanent members
of the UN Security Council plus Germany was held in Moscow in
June.
Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop
nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran
denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for
peaceful purposes only.
Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path
to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose
fossil fuel would eventually run dry.
Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of
uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security
Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its
right of uranium enrichment.
Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and
illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely
consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.