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An informed Iraqi source has announced that Baghdad had agreed to host the next round of talks between Iran and the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany), the Persian service of the Young Journalists Club’s website reported on Tuesday.
The ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany and the representative of the European Union based in Iraq have been informed of the issue and have welcomed it, said the Iraqi source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The ambassadors are supposed to inform their governments of the matter, he added.
Reportedly, an Iranian delegation will travel to Iraq to pursue the issue and hold talks with senior Iraqi officials in this regard.
Vali Nasr, who is a member of the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Advisory Board, said on March 28 that Iran had suggested Baghdad for the talks.
Istanbul has officially announced its readiness to host the negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said on several occasions that Tehran prefers that the talks be held in Istanbul.
Salehi announced on March 28 that the meetings would be held on April 13.
In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on March 31 that Tehran and the 5+1 group would meet in Istanbul on April 13 and 14.
However, Russia said on April 2 that the date and place for nuclear talks with Iran have not been set yet.
“The date and the place of the meeting have not been definitively set,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency, AFP reported.
“The meeting could take place on April 13 or 14 or in the following days,” he said, adding that the talks should take place as soon as possible.
Iran’s Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaii proposed on April 2 that the next round of talks between Iran and the six major powers be held in Baghdad, Beirut, or Damascus instead of Istanbul.
“In view of the fact that our friends in Turkey have failed to honor some agreements, it is better that the talks between Iran and the 5+1 group would be held in another friendly country,” Rezaii said at the time.
In late January 2011, a new round of talks between Iran and the major powers was held in Istanbul, but no date was set for the next round of negotiations.
After the end of the Geneva talks in early December 2010, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili announced that Iran and the 5+1 group had agreed that the next rounds of talks should focus on common ground for cooperation.
However, the 5+1 group reneged on the agreement, and after the end of the Geneva talks, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the major powers in nuclear negotiations with Tehran, read out a statement saying the nuclear issue would be the focus of the next round of talks, a move which drew strong criticism from Iranian officials.
The main bone of contention between Tehran and the West is Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
Iran says all its nuclear activities are totally peaceful, and, as an International Atomic Energy Agency member and a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory, it has the legal right to produce nuclear fuel for its research reactors and nuclear power plants.
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The ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany and the representative of the European Union based in Iraq have been informed of the issue and have welcomed it, said the Iraqi source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The ambassadors are supposed to inform their governments of the matter, he added.
Reportedly, an Iranian delegation will travel to Iraq to pursue the issue and hold talks with senior Iraqi officials in this regard.
Vali Nasr, who is a member of the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Advisory Board, said on March 28 that Iran had suggested Baghdad for the talks.
Istanbul has officially announced its readiness to host the negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said on several occasions that Tehran prefers that the talks be held in Istanbul.
Salehi announced on March 28 that the meetings would be held on April 13.
In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on March 31 that Tehran and the 5+1 group would meet in Istanbul on April 13 and 14.
However, Russia said on April 2 that the date and place for nuclear talks with Iran have not been set yet.
“The date and the place of the meeting have not been definitively set,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency, AFP reported.
“The meeting could take place on April 13 or 14 or in the following days,” he said, adding that the talks should take place as soon as possible.
Iran’s Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaii proposed on April 2 that the next round of talks between Iran and the six major powers be held in Baghdad, Beirut, or Damascus instead of Istanbul.
“In view of the fact that our friends in Turkey have failed to honor some agreements, it is better that the talks between Iran and the 5+1 group would be held in another friendly country,” Rezaii said at the time.
In late January 2011, a new round of talks between Iran and the major powers was held in Istanbul, but no date was set for the next round of negotiations.
After the end of the Geneva talks in early December 2010, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili announced that Iran and the 5+1 group had agreed that the next rounds of talks should focus on common ground for cooperation.
However, the 5+1 group reneged on the agreement, and after the end of the Geneva talks, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the major powers in nuclear negotiations with Tehran, read out a statement saying the nuclear issue would be the focus of the next round of talks, a move which drew strong criticism from Iranian officials.
The main bone of contention between Tehran and the West is Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
Iran says all its nuclear activities are totally peaceful, and, as an International Atomic Energy Agency member and a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory, it has the legal right to produce nuclear fuel for its research reactors and nuclear power plants.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
