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Iran ready to negotiate over 20 pct uranium enrichment: president

18 June 2012 18:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the Islamic republic is prepared to negotiate over 20 percent uranium enrichment with the world powers in the ongoing nuclear talks in the Russian capital of Moscow, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Iranian president made the remarks in an interview with a foreign media on Sunday.

If the European countries provide Iran with the fuel enriched to the level of 20 percent, and "if today they give guarantees to provide the fuel enriched to the level of 20 percent for Iranian reactors, we won’t have any problem (in negotiating the issue)," the news posted on Iran’s presidential website quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"Building confidence is a mutual issue and we should see what the other side of the negotiating table does and if they take a positive step, we are ready to cooperate and we hope to take concrete steps in Moscow," the president was quoted as saying by IRNA.

The Islamic republic believes that all the sides should enjoy equal rights, he said, adding that Iran has always been looking for holding dialogue and is still pursuing the same path.

The Islamic republic hopes that good steps be taken for building mutual trust in Moscow talks, said Ahmadinejad.

The latest round of talks between Iran and the world’s six major powers in addition to the European Union (EU) to resolve the nuclear dispute started in Moscow on Monday.

Representatives from Iran and five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China) plus Germany, known as P5+1, were expected to exchange their views and search for a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.

Before the meeting, spokesman of the China’s Foreign Ministry Liu Weimin said last Thursday the talks "stands at an important phase," calling on all relevant parties to bear in mind the overall direction of talks on the issue.

The last two rounds of talks over the issue were held in Turkey ’s Istanbul in April and the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad in May, with all sides describing the talks as positive and agreeing on further negotiations.

The UN has by now imposed several rounds of sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for bombs.

The EU, the United States and some other countries have imposed oil embargo as part of their sanctions to pressure Tehran into resuming talks on the country’s nuclear program. They have also imposed tough banking sanctions aiming at limiting Iran’s ability to sell oil, which accounts for 80 percent of its foreign revenues.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said Sunday that Iran will not step back from its nuclear rights.