Iran's top nuclear negotiator and Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili (r) shakes hands with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana during their meeting in Tehran on June 14.

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili in a telephone talk with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana Friday agreed that Iran and Europe resume nuclear negotiations in mid-July.
Tehran has prepared its response to a letter sent by the six foreign ministers of Group 5+1 on the basis of common interest, innovation and the agreement recently reached in Tehran, Fars News Agency reported.
“The letter will be presented to the European Union today. However, the attitude of some should not be allowed to further intensify the Iranian people’s mistrust in Europe in the same way that some (hostile) moves by the western powers led to the response from the public and Majlis,“ he noted.
Solana, for his part, commended Iran’s good intentions in presenting a response and expressed satisfaction over the agreement to resume two-way talks.
“Europe does not seek moves that could distort the positive atmosphere. I am confident the atmosphere of negotiations will be constructive,“ the senior European diplomat said.
Meanwhile, an informed source said that Iran’s response to the letter of the foreign ministers of Group 5+1 was handed to Solana in Brussels on Friday.
Speaking to Mehr News Agency on the condition he not be identified, said, “In Solana’s recent visit the views of Group 5+1 were presented within the framework of package of proposals, a letter from their foreign ministers and non-paper statements. Iran so far has responded only to the letter.“
Solana’s spokeswoman Cristina Gallach assessed Solana-Jalili talks as “positive“.
“They had a positive, constructive conversation. They agreed to remain in contact. It would contain “more concrete elements“, she said.
However Gallach underlined: “Even if we formally receive (Iran’s answer) some time will be needed to analyze it.“
Solana delivered the G5+1 package of incentives to Iranian officials on June 14.
Iran also provided international bodies with its own package covering various key areas including political, economic and security issues of concern to the world community.

Talks With China, Japan
Japan ’s Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said his country supports constructive talks between Iran and the 5+1 Group over Tehran ’s nuclear program.
Japan urges both sides to resume positive talks, Komura said Thursday in a telephone conversation with Jalili.
On Iran ’s package of proposals, Komura said the package contained enough potential to gain the confidence of the global community and help restore international peace and stability.
He added that his country attaches great importance to high-level ties with the Islamic Republic, calling Iran a powerful country in the Middle East.
Iran ’s top nuclear negotiator for his part said Tehran forwarded its comprehensive package on the basis of good will and cooperate with other countries in establishing global peace.
Tehran believes the common points in its package and that of the 5+1 incentive would create suitable groundwork for a new phase of cooperation between Tehran and other countries, Jalili added.
Meanwhile, a top Chinese official hailed Iran ’s positive attitude toward Solana and 5+1 group officials during their visit to Tehran in June.
In a telephone conversation late Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi reviewed the trend of nuclear negotiations with Jalili.
Yang lauded Iran ’s positive approach toward Solana and the foreign ministry officials from the six major powers involved in the complicated nuclear negotiations.
Appreciating China for its positive stand on the nuclear issue, Jalili expressed hope that the new round of talks with the Europeans would be constructive.
During the conversation, the Chinese minister reiterated the necessity of interaction with the Islamic Republic for continuation of constructive nuclear negotiations.

Secretary of Guardians Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati on Friday said that the implementation of an economic reform plan proposed by the government demands a great deal of courage, and now that the president has officially presented it all the people should support him.
Delivering this week’s Friday prayers, he recalled that so far 70 percent of subsidies were spent for three percentiles of the society, Mehr News Agency reported.
“The economic reform plan is devised to overcome this oppressive policy and all people must help the chief executive in his cause,“ he stressed. Jannati referred to some key problems in the society, including inflation, shortage of electricity, water and gas, and the drought.
“The freezing temperatures last winter incurred major losses on farmers. Its aftermath is still visible. This year we are facing drought and consequently shortages of some items.
Last year we exported wheat, this year we must import,“ he pointed out. Jannati recalled that the people must gather courage and resilience in the face of sanctions, which also existed in the past.
“All problems can be resolved. There is no problem that cannot be overcome. However, we need to be prudent and wise. People must be rest assured that the problem of shortage of water and electricity can be resolved through judicious use. We currently over consume water and electricityÉwhich itself is a sin,“ he noted. He said that the heads of three branches of power must strongly pursue the issue of eradicating economic corruption, which the leader also underlined on several occasions.

Judicial Performance
Elsewhere in his remarks, the substitute Friday prayer leader referred to the Majlis plan for investigating the performance of the judiciary and noted, “From the very beginning, I was not optimistic about the plan and doubted the integrity of the people who insisted on it. A person who himself has a record of embezzlement found access to confidential documents through the investigation commission. This was a bad move and must be followed up.
As far as I’m aware, some 40,000 pages of the original confidential documents have been removed and hidden in nine spots. This is indeed an ominous plot. Moreover, four people have said that if the report on judiciary’s performance is not made public, they will expose the confidential papers. This way the power of the Islamic system will be undermined. We all know that the enemy wants to harm the unity between the government and the people. If that happens, we will have lost everything.“

Large crowds of Shiites on Friday denounced the controversial security pact Baghdad is negotiating with Washington for a long-term US military presence in violence-wracked Iraq.
In Baghdad’s Sadr City, the bastion of anti-occupation cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, Shiite men, women and children shouted anti-American slogans as they demonstrated against the security deal after the weekly Friday prayers, AFP reported.
“No, no to colonization! Out, out you occupier!“ the crowd shouted in the centre of Sadr City where fierce battles raged in March and April between Shiite fighters and US forces in which hundreds of people were killed.
The fighting ended with a truce on May 10.
Washington and Baghdad are currently negotiating a security pact on the long-term foreign troop levels in Iraq.
Last November George Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki agreed to sign the pact by July 31 this year.
However the country’s political factions have strongly opposed the agreement, saying it would put Iraq on the path of “slavery.“
On Thursday Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari tried to dispel nationwide criticism by saying that the agreement would not compromise Iraqi sovereignty.
He said if the two countries failed to sign the deal then Iraq may have to ask for the renewal of the UN mandate which expires in December 2008 or sign a separate bilateral deal with Washington.
The UN mandate is the legal basis for the presence of US-led foreign forces in the country.
Friday’s protests against the US-proposed security pact reverberated across all Shiite regions of Iraq.
In the central town of Kufa, protesters chanted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans.
“No to America! No to Israel! We reject signing the agreement with the occupation,“ shouted devotees.
In the city of Karbala, an aide of revered Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani urged Baghdad to refrain from signing a deal that would compromise national interests.
“If the government signs the deal it has to preserve the interests of the people, not compromise sovereignty and not permit Iraq to be used as a base for attacks on neighboring countries,“ said Sheikh Abdul Al-Mahdi Al-Karbalae.

Lebanon’s grand source of Shiite emulation, Allameh Seyyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlollah Friday said that European powers and some Arab states that will rejoice
if Iran is attacked should make the US and Israel understand that military adventurism against Iran will entail serious threats for them and more serious problems for the region while undermining the global economy, Fars News Agency reported.
Addressing the Friday prayer meeting in Beirut, he added, “America’s propaganda ware against Iran has been on the rise while the US Congress has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars for destabilizing Iran, and voiced renewed support for the terrorist
Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) to influence Iran’s internal dynamics.
America is also conducting spy operations against Iran and some of its officials have threatened that America will attack IranÉ All these threats are a psychological war against the Islamic state to intimidate Tehran and force it to accept America’s will.“
The senior preacher noted that attacking Iran is tantamount to attacking the Islamic world and all resistance movements.