OREANDA-NEWS. July 27, 2010. We welcome the continued dialogue between Iran, Brazil and Turkey on options for implementing the project of exchanging Iranian low enriched uranium for fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor. The statements made following the Istanbul meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries on July 25 about Tehran's readiness in the near future to respond to the comments previously submitted to the IAEA by Russia, France and the United States regarding the Tehran Declaration of May 17 and hold a meeting with the representatives of the Vienna Group during the second week of September are encouraging. We have long since been ready for such a meeting, and the Iranians know that.

We would deem it important to invite the representatives of Brazil and Turkey to attend this meeting, too.

We are counting on the speedy resumption of dialogue between Iran and the Group of Six in order to jointly seek further a comprehensive settlement of the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program. In this connection we commend the recent meeting held in Kabul between EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

At the same time, we would like to specially underline that for us the recent public statements of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are categorically unacceptable: they distort Russia’s objective approach, our independent, constructive stance on Iran’s nuclear program, aimed to find a political and diplomatic solution, amid the justified concerns of the international community. We believe that instead of sterile and irresponsible rhetoric Iran’s leadership ought to take concrete constructive steps towards the speediest settlement of the current situation, for which Russia and the entire Group of Six have been long and persistently calling.