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2nd LD: Iran not to accept "excessive demands" in nuclear talks: supreme leader

Xinhua, May 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iran will neither give in to pressure in nuclear talks nor accept excessive demands by the West, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said here on Wednesday.

"In the ongoing nuclear talks, the enemy uses coercive language," Khamenei said, adding that "the Iranian government will not succumb to pressure."

"The more withdrawal, the more advancement the greedy enemy will make," he said when addressing scholars from Iran's Imam Hossein University.

The Iranian nation and government should build a strong wall of will power against the threats, he was quoted as saying by the state IRIB TV.

The enemy has demanded to talk with Iranian scientists and researchers about the country's indigenized and national nuclear progress, he said, stressing that "Iran will never allow this."

"We will not allow the boundaries of Iranian nuclear scientists and other sensitive fields to be violated," he was quoted as saying.

In addition, Iran will not allow inspections to any of its military sites by foreigners under the pretext of a possible nuclear deal, Khamenei said reaffirming Iran's stance.

It is the duty of all Iranian officials to withstand the "excessive demands" by the West, and they should know that the only way to face enemy is to "have strong will and to avoid passivity," he said.

"We expect the Iranian negotiators (in ongoing nuclear talks) to present this message of the Iranian nation," he added.

Iran and world powers will begin a new round of negotiations to finalize an accord on the country's nuclear issue in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Wednesday.

Iranian deputy foreign minister and senior negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, will meet EU political director Helga Schmid on Wednesday to resume drafting the text of the deal before the end-of-June deadline.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States, plus Germany -- have held several rounds of talks on a comprehensive nuclear accord since 2008.

The latest round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 concluded in Vienna last Friday.

Iran's nuclear program has long been a subject of concern for western powers, who believe it to be geared toward developing nuclear weapons. Iran insists it has an inalienable right to develop its civilian atomic plan. Endit