The FINANCIAL — UNITED NATIONS. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Iran to resume negotiations on its nuclear program with the six countries known as the Iran Six or E3+3 (three European countries plus others), RIA Novosti informs.
Ban said after a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday that he "hoped that Iran will engage constructively in negotiations with the E3+3 allowing a mutually acceptable agreement in conformity with relevant Security Council resolutions."
The six countries are Russia, the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany.
Ahmadinejad arrived in New York to attend the UN summit on the Millennium Development Goals as well as to deliver a speech at the General Assembly session.
Iran plans to restore relations with the Iran Six, which were suspended in 2009, Ahmadinejad said in an interview with the ABC TV channel before his meeting with Ban Ki-moon.
Western powers suspect Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons under the guise of its nuclear program, which Tehran says is aimed at the peaceful generation of civilian energy.
International pressure on Iran increased in early February when Tehran announced it had begun enriching uranium to 20 percent in lieu of an agreement on an exchange that would provide it with fuel for a research reactor.
In June, the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Iran currently has some 2.8 metric tons of low enriched uranium and 22 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, according to the latest IAEA report on Iran's nuclear activities. Experts say that these 22 kilograms are already enough to produce a nuclear bomb.
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