TEHERAN - Iran does not consider Britain, France and Germany to be its sole nuclear negotiating partners and the three European states could be marginalised from future diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.
âIran does not want to substitute them as negotiating partners,â foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said of the so-called EU-3, who have been engaged in close to two years of tough talks with the Islamic republic. âWe will continue negotiating with them, but on the other hand we will not restrict our negotiations to being with just these three countries,â he added, saying Iran had also been talking with countries such as Japan, Malaysia and South Africa.
I'm sure they could strike a deal with Hugo Chavez. | âWe want to have negotiations with other countries, it is up to the Europeans not to remove themselves from the negotiations,â he said, accusing the EU-3 of refusing to recognise Iranâs right to the nuclear fuel cycle.
According to Asefi, Iranâs âmain negotiating partner is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)â, the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog. |