US expects Iran-P5+1 talks next week
The US says it expects a fresh round of talks between Iran and the world’s six major powers (P5+1) to resume next week, although the venue for the meeting has yet to be determined.
"We are still expecting this to take place next week. But there's certainly some degree of urgency in finalizing details,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Thursday.
"It was our expectation that this was going to be in Istanbul. It's not for us to say one place over another, but it's important that we start to nail this down," AFP quoted him as saying.
The spokesman noted that European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was discussing details of the talks with Iranian officials.
On March 31, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the talks between Iran and the P5+1 will be held in Turkey on April 13-14.
Iran has, however, proposed Iraq as the venue for the new round of comprehensive talks with the P5+1comprising Russia, China, Britain, France and the US plus Germany.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Baghdad welcomes the idea of hosting Iran-P5+1 talks and asserted that he would carry out the necessary contacts with relevant parties on the proposal.
Iran and the P5+1 have held two rounds of multifaceted talks, one in Geneva in December 2010 and another in the Turkish city of Istanbul in January 2011.
Tehran says it is ready to resume the talks based on common grounds; however, it has repeatedly made it clear that it will not negotiate over any of its nuclear rights.
Iran maintains that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to acquire and develop nuclear technology for peaceful objectives.