An Iranian senior official has said that resumption of talks on Iran's
nuclear issue would help forge better understanding between the country and the
European Union (EU), the official IRNA news agency reported yesterday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made the comments on Wednesday in
a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the
rotating presidency of the EU, on the sidelines of the 61st United Nations
General Assembly which is being held in New York.
"Continuation of consultations will help forge a better understanding of all
issues and remove misunderstandings between Iran and the EU," said Mottaki.
Negotiation between Iran and the EU has been steadily pushed despite the fact
that Iran failed to meet a UN Security Council resolution calling on Tehran to
halt uranium enrichment by Aug. 31.
A new round of nuclear talks between Iranian top nuclear negotiator Ali
Larijani and the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will be held in one of
the European capital cities next week, IRNA reported on Wednesday.
In addition, Mottaki, who was accompanying with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to attend the UN General Assembly, also discussed Israel-Hezbollah
conflict with Tuomioja. Mottaki lashed out at "UN Security Council's delay in
approving(UN Security Council) Resolution 1701", saying that if there solution
had been passed earlier, the battle would have ended sooner and the material
damage and casualties would have been lesser.
Tuomioja, for his part, "agreed with Mottaki that the (UN)Security Council
unjustifiably delayed approval of the resolution", and he also praised Iran's
support for the resolution, said the report.
The 34-day-long Israel-Hezbollah conflict ended on Aug. 14 under the
UN-brokered resolution which called for Israel's withdrawal and authorized an
expansion of UN peacekeeping troops to 15,000 to help Lebanese forces take
control of south Lebanon.