Iran: Baghdad Talks Should Result in Removal of Western Sanctions
(FNA)- Iran underlined on Saturday that the upcoming talks with the six world powers in Baghdad should result in a removal of the western sanctions, stressing that the West's embargos have no legal basis.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told the government daily, Iran, that the sanctions have no legal basis and lifting them would display "the first signs" that the West is changing its "wrong" approach towards Iran and its nuclear work.
He insisted that "sanctions do not really have a significant effect," although "no one in Iran is happy about the sanctions" and they "may cause problems".
Mehman-Parast reiterated that Iran would not give up its atomic work.
"If the West thinks we will give up our rights due to sanctions, they are definitely mistaken," he said.
He added that claims that the Western sanctions are disrupting the Iranian economy from within are part of a "propaganda and psychological warfare" launched by the West against the Islamic republic.
Iran on May 23 is to meet representatives of the Group 5+1, comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, in Iraq's capital for the second round of talks which were revived in April in Istanbul after a 15-month hiatus.
Earlier this month, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, an MP and a senior advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader, also expressed the hope that the positive trend of talks between Tehran and the six world powers in Istanbul would continue in Baghdad, and stressed that removal of the sanctions against Iran should be the least result of the upcoming round of negotiations.
"I hope that Baghdad negotiations should be complementary to the Istanbul talks," Gholam Ali Haddad Adel.
"Our minimum expectation is the annulment of the sanctions," he underlined.
Haddad Adel also asked the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) to show a logical behavior during the upcoming talks in Baghdad "since Iran will never surrender to pressures".
Also earlier, Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi had raised the same demand, reiterating that removal of the US and EU oil sanctions against the Islamic Republic should be on the agenda in talks between Tehran and the G5+1 in Baghdad.
"Given the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran's stand is more powerful, the Saturday (April 14) negotiations were held under a good atmosphere and it was decided that annulling oil and banking sanctions against Iran will be discussed in the future negotiations," Boroujerdi told FNA in April.
After April 14 talks between Iran and the G5+1 in Istanbul, Tehran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalili said that withdrawing sanctions against Iran should be a focal point in any future talks on cooperation between Iran and the world powers.
"It is of crucial importance that our (future) cooperation will entail reciprocal steps, that is, our nation's trust should be built in the trend of talks and cooperation," Jalili told reporters at a press conference after the second meeting with the representatives of the G5+1 in Istanbul.
He said the Iranian nation is only demanding "the very same rights enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)", and reiterated, "Iran, as an active member of the NPT, should enjoy its rights alongside its undertakings."
"We deeply believe that removal of sanctions, which is demanded by the Iranian nation, is one of the issues which should receive attention in the trend of talks on cooperation," the Iranian top negotiator underscored.