U.S. Rejects Iran’s Call For Nuclear Talks

The U.S. has rejected the proposal to resume nuclear talks with Iran, accusing the country of a “charm offensive” in a letter to the European Union. The U.S. says Tehran has made no new commitments to address international concerns around its nuclear program.

Reuters reports that Glyn Davies, the U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said: “We note Iran’s recent claim that it is starting a new era of cooperation. We have heard this claim before, but it has yet to be fulfilled.”

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, sent a letter on September 6 to Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, saying Iran is prepared to resume nuclear talks but “Iran will not surrender its rights.”

Iran maintains that it has a right to enrich uranium to make fuel for its nuclear reactors.

Jalili writes that Iran is ready to negotiate the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and cooperate with the U.S. in peaceful nuclear activities.

While the West contends that Iran’s goal may be the development of nuclear weapons, Iran insists that all of its nuclear activities are peaceful.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has said that his agency cannot fully ascertain that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful; however, Iran has rejected his statements as “unfounded and baseless.”

Amano has said that Iran showed more transparency during the latest visit by a senior IAEA official, but this greater transparency has not fully satisfied the agency’s concerns.

In response, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, said the inspectors have found no “deviations” in Iran’s atomic activities.