Iran told the West on Sunday that it would only hold talks over its disputed nuclear programme if world powers stopped threatening further punitive measures against Tehran.“The time of using the policy of the carrot and the stick has ended,” said Javad Vaeedi, a top national security official, said on the sidelines of a security conference in Tehran.
“If they [the West] want to have serious negotiations, in fair conditions and taking into account the interests of the two parties, they must first stop threatening [Iran].” His comments came a week after the UN Security Council tightened sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to heed the world body’s calls to freeze uranium enrichment.
No talks with Solana: Following the UN security council resolution, which tightened sanctions by the UN Security council against Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected any new talks with the European UnionÂ’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.
Ahmadinejad said Tehran would in future negotiate only with the UN atomic agency and would not sit down with anyone from outside the body, such as Solana. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at a conference in Tehran, meanwhile refused to directly answer a question about whether Iran would continue talking to Solana.