Tehran - Acknowledgment of Iran's nuclear energy rights and not the suspension of uranium enrichment has been the basis of talks between Iran and the European Union, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Sunday. Saturday's talks between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in the Portuguese capital Lisbon were considered positive and constructive by both sides but did not achieve any concrete results, Hosseini said.
The spokesman confirmed that the two sides agreed to meet again in three weeks but disclosed neither an exact date nor a venue.
He added that following Friday's talks between Larijani with International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei, a suitable framework for an action plan was reached to settle the technical aspects within two months.
This action plan however needed a political consensus between Larijani and Solana which the two sides discussed in Lisbon and would further discuss in three weeks, Hosseini added.
The spokesman noted that "no miracles and immediate breakthrough" should be expected from the talks but rather regard them as a prologue for preparing grounds for the main talks between Iran and the five United Nations veto powers plus Germany (5+1).
Iran wants to discuss the dilemma over Iran's nuclear programmes with the 5+1 group but the six states first demanded that Iran suspend uranium enrichment before returning to the negotiation table.
Iran however rejects preconditions in general and enrichment suspension in particular and wants its nuclear rights acknowledged as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
While referring to Iran's claim to have reached know-how in uranium enrichment, the spokesman said "the other side should accept the realities," adding that there have been some signals that some European countries were already following "this new line."
Hosseini said that Iran would differentiate talks with the EU and plans by some countries, including the United States and Britain, to make a third United Nations Security Council resolution against Iran, including financial sanctions.
He said that that Iran from the beginning regarded the UN channel as wrong and having no legal basis and that Iran stressed once again a settlement through diplomatic channels and further negotiations.
