Iran says it is ready to restart nuclear talks
In letter to EU's Ashton, National Security Council says Islamic Republic willing to resume negotiations over its nuclear program 'on date convenient to both sides'
Iran has notified the European Union it is willing to restart talks about its nuclear program after Nov. 10.
State media report that Iran's Supreme National Security Council said in a letter Friday to the EU's foreign policy chief that Iran is ready to hold talks "in a place and on a date convenient to both sides."
The negotiations between Iran and a group of six nations that includes the United States foundered a year ago over a deal meant to ensure Iran could only use its stockpile of enriched uranium for fueling nuclear power stations and not for building bombs.
In Brussels, the EU confirmed it had received the letter. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called the offer "a very important" development.
Iran has always insisted the talks be held on the basis of its own proposals and foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast this week said there must be agreement on an agenda.
"While we do need to come to a conclusion on the date and place for the talks, the content of the negotiations should also be agreed by the two sides," he said.
The talks would be the first high-level encounter between Iran and the so-called P5+1 that groups the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia since a round held October 1, 2009 in Geneva.
'Great responsibilities'
The nuclear negotiations aim to address international suspicion that Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.
Faced by the talks deadlock, the United Nations Security Council on June 9 reinforced international economic sanctions, with the United States and EU taking separate measures -- all of which Tehran brushed off as having no impact.
Sanctions notably ban investments in oil, gas and petrochemicals while also targeting banks, insurance, financial transactions and shipping.
Friday's long-awaited response from Tehran comes a day after the US warned Iran's continued uranium enrichment meant any new offer by world powers on its nuclear programme would be more burdensome than one it had already rejected.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that increased expectations required for any deal reflected the fact that Iran's enriched uranium stocks were now larger than they were when previous talks broke down last year.
"Based on the unilateral actions that they took, they have increased their enrichment," Gibbs said.
"In order to live up to the responsibilities that they have made and to lift any sanctions, they would have great responsibilities," Gibbs said.
Gibbs spoke after the New York Times reported that the Obama administration and its European allies were preparing a new, more onerous offer for Iran than the one rejected by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last year.
The offer would require Iran to send more than 4,400 pounds of (1,995 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium out of the country, an increase of more than two-thirds from the amount required under a deal struck in Vienna.
AP, AFP contributed to the report
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