Tehran - Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said on Wednesday he was heading for potentially make-or-break talks with world powers on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme with a "positive approach".
"We are going to Europe for this negotiation with a positive approach and I hope this is an opportunity for others also," Saeed Jalili told reporters at Tehran airport before leaving for Thursday's negotiations in Geneva.
Atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi had said Iran is ready to discuss world concerns about its previously undisclosed second enrichment plant, but insisted there can be no bargaining about Iran's right to master the nuclear fuel cycle at long-awaited talks with major powers.
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Disclosure to the International Atomic Energy Agency last week of the plant cast a shadow over the talks in Geneva, with Washington calling on Tehran to agree to "immediate, unfettered access" by IAEA inspectors.
Washington has already expressed dissatisfaction Uranium enrichment is the sensitive process that lies at the centre of Western concerns over Iran's nuclear programme, which Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States want the Geneva talks to address.
The process can produce the fuel for nuclear power or, in highly refined form, the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
The UN Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran over its failure to heed repeated ultimatums to suspend enrichment.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki meanwhile told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Tehran would not give up its "right" to nuclear technology.
"Iran in defending its absolute right to devekop civilian nuclear technology will never bow under political pressure. Iran will never renounce its right to develop civilian nuclear technology," he said, according to Irna news agency.
Washington has already expressed dissatisfaction with Iran's proposals for the Geneva talks, which focus on broader issues of global nuclear disarmament rather than its own programme in particular.
White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said on Tuesday the United States will bring up its concerns on Iran's uranium enrichment, even if Tehran refuses to discuss the issue. - AFP
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