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Talks between Iran and the "five plus one" group to be held in Istanbul

The time of this meeting was announced earlier – April 13-14

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

TEHRAN, April 8 (Itar-Tass) — The talks between Iran and the “five plus one” group (group of international mediators on settling the Iranian nuclear problem, consisting of permanent UN Security Council members and Germany) will be held in Istanbul next week, reported on Sunday the Iranian English language channel Press-TV.

The time of this meeting was announced earlier – April 13-14. However, consultations on a place of a meeting continued up to the last time. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the other day that a city that will welcome negotiators, would be announced in the near future.

The final decision will be taken after consultations between secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stressed the foreign minister. “I hope that the coming talks will be fruitful and will be a step forward,” Salehi noted.

Turkey expressed for long readiness to organize another round of talks between Iran and the Six. However, reports appeared in the past few days that Iran insists on holding the meeting in another place over differences with Turkey in assessing events in Syria. The Iranian side suggested Baghdad, Beirut and Damascus as other places.

The previous round of talks between Iran and the “five plus one” group was held in January 2011 precisely in Istanbul. It ended in a flop. As a result, the process was suspended for over a year. Iran called repeatedly in the recent past to resume the dialogue.

EU supreme commissioner on foreign affairs and security policy Catherine Ashton announced on behalf of the Six last March 6 the readiness to continue the negotiating process so as to remove the anxiety of the international community concerning the Iranian nuclear programme.

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