Iran: nuclear talks to be held on April 13
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E-mail Xinhua, March 28, 2012
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said Wednesday that the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany (G5+1) will be held on April 13, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The venue for the talks will be decided in a few days, Salehi made the remarks upon receiving Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who arrived in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Wednesday morning.
"Istanbul has already announced readiness to host the (upcoming nuclear) talks and it is one of the possible options for the talks, " Salehi told IRNA, adding that "in my opinion, Istanbul is the preferable host for the talks, but the issue will be decided by Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili."
"Mrs. Catherine Ashton, European Union (EU) Foreign Policy Chief, has contacted our Turkish friends about the venue of the upcoming talks between Iran and G5+1 and Mr. Jalili and his colleagues are studying the issue. We hope the venue of the talks will be decided in the coming days," he was quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, Turkish Ambassador to Tehran Umit Yardim told IRNA that Turkey is ready to host upcoming Iran-G5+1 talks for the second time.
Nuclear talks between Iran and the G5+1 in Istanbul in January 2011 failed to reach any agreement as Tehran rejected any notion of suspending enrichment in exchange for trade and technology benefits, as called for by several UN Security Council resolutions passed since 2006.
After about more than one-year-long deadlock over the talks on Iran's suspected nuclear program, Tehran in mid-February replied to Ashton's October letter over the resumption of nuclear talks.
Ashton later responded to Iran's proposal, saying that the G5+1 agreed to restart nuclear talks with Iran.
