Iran rejects enrichment as precondition for talks

Iran on Thursday again rejected freezing uranium enrichment as a precondition for talks but held out the possibility that negotiations on its nuclear program could result in such a moratorium. "Iran considers the suspension of uranium enrichment not as a precondition for talks, but in the best case as a result of the talks," Javad Vaeidi, deputy head of Iran's National Security Council and the country's deputy nuclear negotiator, said in a translated copy of a speech he delivered in Vienna. "Negotiation without preconditions is the only way to a peaceful settlement of the crisis, which Iran and the EU 3 are both concerned about," the translation of the speech read.