Repeated resolutions cannot resolve nuclear standoff: official

March 4, 2007 - 0:0
TEHRAN – The repeated adoption of resolutions against Iran cannot help resolve the nuclear standoff, Ali-Akbar Velayati, the international affairs advisor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said here on Saturday.

“Those who really want to resolve Iran’s nuclear issue should sit at the negotiating table, and the Islamic Republic will welcome negotiations with open arms,” Velayati told the Mehr News Agency.

The West has been demanding that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment activities. However, as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has a legal right to enrichment.

In a report issued on February 22, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Iran had not suspended its nuclear fuel enrichment as the UN Security Council had demanded.

Velayati called Iran the most influential country in the Middle East region, saying, “No proposed solution to regional problems can bear fruit without taking Iran into consideration.”