Iran, P5+1 hold talks in Istanbul

The first round of comprehensive talks between Iran and the representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany has been held in Turkey.

The Iranian delegation, headed by Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili, started the negotiations at Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace on Friday.

European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton headed the P5+1 delegations.

Following the meeting, Iran said the talks, which focused on dialog for cooperation, were held in a positive atmosphere.

The previous round of talks were held in the Swiss city of Geneva on December 6-7, during which both sides agreed to hold another round of negotiations in Istanbul in late January.

“Iran is fundamentally here to talk about security issues that effect itself regionally and globally,” a Press TV correspondent reported from Istanbul.

The continuation of the talks in Turkey will largely depend on whether the P5+1 will respect this agenda, which Iran says was agreed upon in Geneva in December last year.

Tehran has already said it is serious about the talks and emphasized it will not discuss the nuclear issue as it should be under the realm of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Despite Iran’s refusal to discuss the issue, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday had said that the Tehran Declaration was still on the table and this was a show of good faith between all parties to move forward on this issue.

Turkey and Brazil in May brokered the declaration according to which Iran would ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for higher enriched fuel it needs for the Tehran research reactor.

The deal, which was on the eve of a Security Council vote on sanctions against Iran, was rejected by the United States and its European allies, who in turn imposed new round of sanctions on the country.