Arash Aramesh

Ramin Mehmanparast, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said August 10 that Iran is ready to resume talks with the Vienna group about providing fuel for Tehran’s nuclear reactor, but only based upon conditions Iran outlined in the Tehran Declaration.

But Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said to ILNA, Iranian Labor News Agency, on August 9 that “The main important message of Iran’s letter to the Vienna group was Tehran’s full readiness to engage in talks on the fuel swap without any preconditions.”

The Tehran Declaration brokered by Turkey and Brazil promised Iran nuclear fuel in return for Iran’s low enriched uranium. Turkey was supposed to act as the intermediary and hold on to Iranian uranium as a trustee. Prior to the Tehran Declaration, Iran was adamant about keeping all its uranium on its soil and conducting any uranium swaps inside Iran. Iran’s insistence on this condition was one of the main reasons that talks with the 5+1 ended.

According to Soltanieh, however, Iran is ready to resume talks without any preconditions. Soltanieh told the West not to waste any new opportunities and begin talks. This is an interesting development considering Iran’s recent rhetoric about its willingness to meet with the 5+1 permanent members of the UN Security Council and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments last week in which he invited President Barack Obama to a one-on-one meeting in New York this fall.

Ali-Akbar Velayati, chief foreign policy advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said in a conference August 9 in Syria that Iran was “committed” to nuclear negotiations. He also said that Iran was not going to be intimidated by the West and suddenly stop its program. According to Agence France-Presse, Velayati also expressed Iran’s willingness to hold direct talks with the United States.

Tabnak, a political website close to former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohese Rezai, reported AFP’s story about Velayati on its homepage today. A few hours later, Velayati’s office sent a letter to Tabnak asking them to correct the story. In this letter, Velayati accused AFP of falsifying his comments. Velayati said Iran did not trust the United States and denied ever saying that Iran was ready to hold direct talks with Americans.