TEHRAN — An Iranian spokesman Tuesday said the country's nuclear talks with world powers yielded “positive results” and assailed what he described as “negative” remarks by some Western officials following those negotiations. According to Ramin Mehmanparast, some Western officials and media outlets are trying to portray the results of the talks last week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a bad light because of their own political agenda. “It is a matter of surprise that some Western and regional countries as well as their media outlets are trying to cast a negative image on the talks, which had positive conclusions,” said Mehmanparast, the Foreign Ministry spokesman. He said the Western officials, whom he did not name, were doing this “based on their political viewpoints.” He did not elaborate but said the negotiations on Iran's controversial nuclear program could reach a “mutually acceptable conclusion, gradually.” US Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Monday in Riyadh that the window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution on Iran's nuclear activities “cannot by definition remain open indefinitely.” Off-and-on talks between Iran and the world powers — the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — began after the six offered Tehran a series of incentives in 2006 exchange for a commitment from Tehran to stop enrichment and other activities that could be used to develop weapons. The Almaty talks were the first since negotiations stalled last May. The next round will also be held in Kazakhstan in April. Tehran maintains it is enriching uranium only to make reactor fuel and medical isotopes, and insists it has a right to do so under international law. It has signaled it does not intend to stop, and UN nuclear inspectors recently confirmed Iran has begun a major upgrade of its program at the country's main uranium enrichment site. On Tuesday, Mehmanparast also reiterated Iran's long held stance that Tehran is ready to remove concerns over alleged military dimensions of its nuclear program if its rights to develop nuclear energy are recognized by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The visits by the IAEA inspectors to Iran are separate from the talks with world powers over the nuclear issue but Mehmanparast tied the two together, saying that “sets of our talks” with the IAEA and the world powers “can be related ... if the actions are mutual.” “Our meetings with the IAEA are aimed at achieving a comprehensive framework that could approve our (nuclear) activities, based on the non-proliferation treaty,” said Mehmanparast. — AP
