The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey: Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator met Sunday with Turkey’s foreign minister, who reiterated his country’s position that the Islamic Republic has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Saeed Jalili, on his way back to Tehran after attending talks with envoys from the U.S. and five other world powers in Geneva on Saturday, met with Foreign Minister Ali Babacan during a stopover in Istanbul.
“We believe every sovereign country has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful aims and to have that technology,” Babacan told a joint news conference with Jalili.
Babacan, who said Turkey is against nuclear weapons, supports diplomacy to resolve the Iran nuclear issue.
The six world powers — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany — have called on Iran to freeze uranium enrichment, arguing that it is designed to make nuclear weapons.
Iran has rejected the demand, as it has repeatedly done in the past. It says its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes.