Iran has advised 5+1 group to return to talks : Iranian security official

TEHRAN, Jan.1 (MNA) -- Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili said on Saturday that Iran has advised the 5+1 group to return to talks and base them on common ground for cooperation. “We have officially told them to return to the path of negotiation for cooperation,” he said during a speech at a gathering of Iran’s ambassadors and heads of missions to foreign countries and international organizations. “Different messages of the Westerners indicate their problems and internal disagreements,” he stated. In late January 2011, a new round of talks between Iran and the major powers was held in Istanbul but no date was set for the next round of negotiations. After the end of the Geneva talks in early December 2010, Jalili announced that Iran and the 5+1 group had agreed that the next rounds of talks should focus on common ground for cooperation. However, the 5+1 group reneged on the agreement, and after the end of the Geneva talks, Ashton (EU foreign policy chief ) read out a statement saying the nuclear issue would be the focus of the next round of talks, a move which drew strong criticism from Iranian officials. The main bone of contention between Tehran and the West is Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Iran says all its nuclear activities are totally peaceful, and, as an International Atomic Energy Agency member and a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory, it has the legal right to produce nuclear fuel for its research reactors and nuclear power plants.