Tehran, September 15: Talks between world powers and Tehran on Iran’s nuclear programme will likely be in Turkey, the chief Western negotiator said on Tuesday, while urging Iran to respond positively to U.S. engagement in the process.
“I think very likely it will be Turkey,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who has headed the Western negotiating effort with Iran, told reporters in Brussels when asked where the Oct. 1 talks would take place.
Solana said Western policy remained “twin track” — to offer incentives to Iran to abandon a nuclear programme the West suspects is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, while holding out the threat of further sanctions. But he said now was not the time to talk about fresh sanctions.
“At this point in time we are going to try to enter into negotiations,” he said. “Let’s talk about that.”
Iran has agreed to wide-ranging talks with six world powers but has ruled out discussing its nuclear activities, which it says are for peaceful generation of electricity.
The United States and the European Union insist Tehran’s nuclear efforts must be the focus of the talks, the first on the issue since July 2008.
Solana, who has been representing the six powers — the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia — in long-running efforts to resolve the row with Iran, was cautious when asked how much he thought the new talks could achieve.
STEPPED-UP U.S. ENGAGEMENT
But he urged Tehran to take advantage of stepped-up U.S. engagement in the talks process under the administration of President Barack Obama.
“I always intend to try and achieve as much as possible in the negotiations. But it is not the first time we meet. We know each other well,” he said.
“There are some things that are new: the Americans will be present in a formalised manner; that is new, and I think that has to be evaluated positively by the Iranians.”
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin confirmed Turkey had offered to host the meeting. “We are entering a critical period that should be used wisely,” he said.
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim NATO member and close U.S. ally that is also looking to expand economic and energy ties with neighbouring Iran, said earlier this year it was trying to bridge U.S.-Iranian differences.
A senior Iranian official said on Monday Iran would not negotiate on its “sovereign right” to nuclear energy but, if that were recognised, Iran was ready to discuss any issue at the talks, including ways of upholding non-proliferation globally.
On Monday, a senior U.S. official called Iran’s agreement to enter talks an “important first step”, but the White House said Iran would show its failure to meet international obligations if it stuck to its refusal to discuss its nuclear programme.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu welcomed Iran’s decision to enter talks as “an important step”, adding:
“The relevant parties should use this opportunity to further enhance diplomatic efforts, to push forward the meeting in order to get positive results, and to resume talks and negotiations.”
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday Iran’s continued refusal of IAEA access to clarify intelligence material suggesting Iran illicitly researched how to design a nuclear weapon was unacceptable.
EU foreign ministers discussed the Iranian nuclear issue on Monday evening, and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said more sanctions would be needed if talks did not succeed.
He said these should come from the United Nations, but if that were not possible, the EU should act unilaterally.
—Agencies