West Cool to Iran on Offer of Talks
TEHRAN — Iran called Tuesday for the resumption of talks on its nuclear activities, but Western powers were scornful of the offer, and Russia said Tehran would have to halt atomic fuel research if it wanted negotiations.
“Talk is cheap,†State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
A senior British official labeled as “vacuous†the Iranian offer, contained in a letter from Javad Vaeidi, deputy head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, to restart talks.
Russia told Tehran to restore the basis for negotiations by reversing last week’s resumption of nuclear fuel research. “Talks presuppose an obligation. The Iranian obligation was to stick to the moratorium ... on scientific research,†Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov said.
Britain, France and Germany called off the talks after Tehran removed U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment, deepening Western suspicions that it is trying to develop nuclear arms. Iran insists that it seeks only a civilian energy program.
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