Category: Iran

The United States says talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany should take place in central Europe.

US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that any upcoming talks between the two sides should be held first in central Europe but any follow-up talks could take place in Turkey.

“Istanbul could still be a location for a second follow-on meeting,” he told reporters on Friday.

“But the general consensus is that the first meeting should be somewhere in central Europe,” he went on to say.

“We think it’s a more appropriate and a more convenient location for a first meeting,” he added without providing more explanation.

His remarks come after EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the P5+1, accepted Iran’s proposed date for comprehensive talks with the P5+1.

Ashton’s office said on Friday that she “has agreed to their proposal to begin talks on December 5.”

The Islamic Republic has proposed Turkey as the venue of talks, but Ashton’s office said that she suggested talks be held in Austria or Switzerland.

The P5+1 group consists of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany.

Iran says it is “serious” in talks, calling on the P5+1 to adopt a constructive approach toward the upcoming talks with Tehran.

AR/MGH/HRF

By Glenn Kessler

The European Union’s foreign policy chief has accepted Iran’s proposal to meet Dec. 5 but has rejected Istanbul as a venue, according to a copy of the letter seen by The Washington Post.

The exchange is the latest in a lengthy debate over when and where to hold talks between Iran and six nations eager to negotiate restraints on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran earlier this week proposed holding the talks on Nov. 23 or Dec. 5 in Turkey, but that would have meant that Turkish officials would host the event and presumably join in. The countries now involved in the long-stalled talks — the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany — are wary of adding another to the mix at this point.

“As far as the venue is concerned, holding the meeting in Istanbul is not possible for Her Excellency Lady [Catherine] Ashton, but she suggests that the meeting might take place in Vienna, or alternatively in Switzerland,” wrote James Morrison, Ashton’s chief of staff, in the letter to Iranian officials.

Iran’s response earlier this week suggested it was only interested in meeting on a single day, which U.S. and European officials argue will leave little time for a productive session. Ashton suggested in Friday’s letter that the meetings begin on Dec. 5 with a dinner, continue on Dec. 6 and then conclude at midday on Dec. 7 with a news conference.

While Ashton’s letters have repeatedly stressed an interest in discussing Iran’s nuclear program, the Iranian responses have been silent on the subject. Iranian officials have publicly declared they have no interest in discussing their nuclear program, despite new sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council for Tehran’s failure to halt uranium enrichment.

By Glenn Kessler  | November 12, 2010; 11:45 AM ET

via Checkpoint Washington – EU official rejects Turkey as venue for Iran talks.

WASHINGTON — The United States said Friday that any new international nuclear talks with Iran should take place first in central Europe but added that follow-on talks could be held in Turkey, as Iran has proposed.

In Brussels, European Union diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton on Friday agreed to resume the long-stalled nuclear talks between six world powers and Iran on December 5, and suggested they be held in Austria or Switzerland.

“Istanbul could still be a location for a second follow-on meeting,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. “But the general consensus is that the first meeting should be somewhere in central Europe.”

Iran this week proposed the talks take place in Istanbul but “Ashton’s preference is that the first meeting take place somewhere else in Europe and has proposed Austria or Switzerland,” her office said.

Ashton represents Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States in the talks aimed at allaying Western fears that Iran’s nuclear program masks a weapons drive under the guise of a civilian program, which Tehran denies.

Crowley was vague about why it was better to launch the talks in Central Europe than in Turkey. “We think it’s a more appropriate and a more convenient location for a first meeting.”

The last round of negotiations over a nuclear fuel-swap deal deadlocked in October 2009 and Washington this week said there could be multiple meetings and multiple venues.

Turkey and Brazil early this year brokered a modified fuel-swap deal which Washington rejected before securing a fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran.

via AFP: US open to Turkey as venue for later round of Iran talks.

BRUSSELS — Talks on Iran’s nuclear program moved a step closer Thursday as the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, agreed to one of two dates for discussions suggested by Tehran, a diplomat said, although Ms. Ashton proposed an alternative location.

Ms. Ashton would lead the negotiations with Iran alongside officials from the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain.

On Thursday Ms. Ashton’s officials were drafting a letter to Iran’s senior negotiator, Saeed Jalili, agreeing to talks Dec. 5, but proposing that they take place not in Istanbul, as Iran had suggested, but in another country, probably Switzerland.

Ms. Ashton may also suggest that the discussions are conducted over three days rather than one, said a European diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity because an official announcement has yet to be made.

In recent weeks an exchange of letters between Ms. Ashton and the Iranians has brought the prospect of the resumption of talks significantly closer. In a letter dated Nov. 9, shown to The International Herald Tribune, Iran said Mr. Jalili would be ready to meet on Nov. 23 or Dec. 5 in Istanbul.

The diplomat confirmed Thursday that discussions between the Americans, Russians, Chinese and Europeans had taken place in the last 48 hours on how to react to Iran’s letter of this week.

“Catherine Ashton is expected to respond to Iran by the end of the week and is expected to agree to Iran’s proposal to meet on December 5, but not in Istanbul,” the diplomat said.

Instead the discussions would take place “somewhere in Europe – most likely Switzerland” with the possibility of a follow-up meeting for Istanbul.

If agreement can be reached the discussion will be the first high-level negotiations in more than a year.

If Iran accepts Switzerland as a venue, Geneva is a likely location.

The movement follows agreement on new United Nations and European Union sanctions aimed at putting pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. This reflects fears that Iran’s uranium-enrichment program is designed to create the option of a weapons program, while Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are limited to peaceful purposes.

European officials believe that sanctions are beginning to have an impact. They say they are pursuing a dual strategy designed to force the government in Tehran into a dialogue.

Iran’s most recent letter, like one that preceded it on October 29, referred to a stipulation in a previous communication from Mr. Jalili’s on July 6, laying down conditions for the talks. In that letter, the Iranian negotiator said that discussions should aim to engage and cooperate, that they should be committed to the rationale of dialogue, and that Ms. Ashton should state her “position on the nuclear weapons of the Zionist Regime.” That is a reference to Israel, which does not confirm or deny that it has nuclear weapons.

Last year the United States suggested that Iran ship uranium to another country for enrichment so as to try to ensure that Tehran could continue with its civil nuclear project, but did not have access to enough highly enriched uranium to make a bomb.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 12, 2010, on page A10, in The International Herald Tribune.

via E.U. Responds to Iran About Talks on Nuclear Program – NYTimes.com.