TEHRAN – MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh of the Majlis Foreign Policy Subcommittee has said that the planned talks in Baghdad will fail if the West calls on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program. 

 

Tehran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) held a new round of talks in Istanbul on April 14, breaking a 15-month hiatus in talks, and agreed to meet again in Baghdad on May 23. 

 

“If the issue of the suspension of uranium enrichment is raised in Baghdad, the talks will fail. The 5+1 group is well aware of this point,” Falahatpisheh said in an interview with the Persian service of the Fars News Agency published on Saturday in response to recent nuclear demands made by the European Union and the United States.   

 

The EU told Iran on May 7 that it must suspend uranium enrichment and the U.S. called on Iran on the same day to take “urgent practical steps” to build confidence during its negotiations with world powers.

 

“Hardliners in Western countries are under the influence of the Zionist regime’s lobbies and reactionary Arab countries. These groups are trying to invent some pretext to oppose Iran’s nuclear program and prevent Iran and the 5+1 group from reaching an agreement in Baghdad,” Falahatpisheh commented. 

 

He also said that the Islamic Republic expects world powers to take practical steps during the talks to ease sanctions against Iran in order to show that they have adopted a constructive approach.