Iran has called on the West to give up its "inefficient, wrong" policy of imposing sanctions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear program ahead of talks due next week, the Iranian state television website reported Tuesday, quoting a foreign ministry official.
"If the sanctions are used as a pressure element for the talks, experience has shown that this method is inefficient and will have negative impact," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying. "The sanctions ... will not help some Western countries and the Islamic Republic to resolve the issues," he said.
"Naturally, the Europeans should gradually amend the wrong policies of the past ... it's better that these countries don't jeopardize their interest for the political objectives of a country, especially because of the difficult economic and social conditions that they face," the diplomat said.
European Union ministers on January 23 approved a set of sanctions that ban imports of Iranian oil as of July 1.
Iran and six world powers - the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - are due to hold a round of talks over June 18-19 in Moscow after two days of intense nuclear talks in Baghdad last month achieved little.
The main bone of contention at the talks is likely to be the speed at which the P5+1 eases sanctions if the Islamic Republic scales back the most sensitive parts of its nuclear program.
The West suspects that Iran's nuclear works are a disguise for an atomic weapons agenda, however, Tehran strongly insists the program is for peaceful purposes only.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to arrive in Tehran Wednesday to discuss the nuclear issue, among other regional matters.
"We are serious and ready for talks ... the more these countries recognize our undeniable right, the higher is the chance of this meeting to succeed," Mehmanparast said about the Moscow talks.
Source: Platts