A senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution has denied that Iran made major concessions to its international partners in the latest round of talks on a long-term settlement to the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program in Vienna in late November, which led to the decision to extend the negotiations on a final deal until the end of next June.
Ali Akbar Velayati told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran that such claims are "devoid of truth", ISNA reported on Monday.
The Associated Press claimed in a report in early December that the Obama administration has won significant concessions from Iran for extending the nuclear talks last month, including "promises by the Islamic Republic to allow snap inspections of its facilities and to neutralize much of its remaining uranium stockpile," as part of an effort to prevent the country from perusing nuclear technology at an industrial scale.
Velayati said, "In fact, it was the United States that called for the extension of talks; a decision which was surprising even for its allies. They decided to obstruct the negotiations in the last minutes just as the talks were going to bear fruits and succeed.
They then called for a long-term extension of the negotiations which reflected the existence of certain considerations behind the scenes in the US politics."
Lack of Authority
"It seems the US President (Barack Obama) does not have the power to take firm decisions and such lack of decision-making authority gives rise to actions that are unpredictable even for the US allies and has nothing to do with Iran."
He also said nothing has changed with regard to the "path set by the Leader for the nuclear negotiations; and Iranian negotiators have so far shown no sign of weakness."
The former foreign minister also underlined Iran's stance to use peaceful nuclear energy at an "industrial scale" within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The NPT permits member states to enrich uranium to any level they need and places no restrictions on the stockpiling of enriched uranium.
"Nuclear energy is cheap and clean and can contribute to the development of southern Iran… our endeavors in nuclear technology are for peaceful purposes, particularly for (developing) reactors that produce electricity or desalinate water in the country's southern region as we are facing water shortage there," Velayati said.
He went on to say that Tehran will not discuss its missile capability as part of the ongoing nuclear talks with the major powers, adding that missiles are acting as "deterrence" against enemies and "we don't need authorization from anybody for the development of our defensive capabilities."
Divisive Approach
Velayati had also said on Sunday the fact that the US wants to make decisions on behalf of other members of the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) in the nuclear talks with Iran will eventually cause disagreements among the major powers.
"The Russian and Chinese sides (on the one hand) and France and Germany, on the other hand, have various views on the nuclear issue, and if the United States follows its approach, it not only will not achieve anything, but it will cause disagreements among the allies which have joined together," IRNA quoted the director of the Center for Strategic Research of the Expediency Council as saying.
