Azerbaijan, Baku, July 2 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova/
The European Commission uses "twin track approach" regarding Iran's nuclear program, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told Trend.
"One hand The European Union has imposed the series of sanctions because of its extreme concern because of the Iranian nuclear program," Kocijancic said. "On the other hand, the Commission is open for negotiations on the matter."
Iran and 5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany) held three sessions of talks in Baghdad on May 23 and 24 after an earlier round of negotiations in the Turkish city of Istanbul in mid-April.
Another round of nuclear talks was held in Moscow on June 18-19. The Iranian negotiating delegation in the Moscow talks was led by Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili, and the P5+1 group of countries was headed by Catherine Ashton.
Iran's nuclear talks with the 5+1 group (the permanent members of the UN Security Council-the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China) plus Germany finished their third round in Moscow on June 18-19, and are to continue in Istanbul where experts will go over technical details.
"These negotiations are currently ongoing and we are engaging with Iranian side in this respect," Kocijancic said.
"At the moment we are looking forward to the technical talks that will take place tomorrow in Istanbul in 3+3 and Iran experts will meet to discuss the details of the proposals that we have put forward," she said.
Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.
Tehran has dismissed the West's demand as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.
Iran insists that it should continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the southwestern town of Darkhoveyn as well as its first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.
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