Iran: Talks Suspended by World Powers

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Wednesday reiterated Tehran’s readiness and willingness to resume talks with the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany), and said these were the world powers which have suspended the negotiations.

“We have announced many times that we never want the talks to come to stop and since the very beginning we have always believed that the negotiations should continue until obtaining a mutually-acceptable result,” Salehi said in a joint press conference with his Omani counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi in Tehran today.

“It has always been the other side which has suspended the negotiations and we have always announced that we are ready for talks but they induce the world public opinion by the power of the media to come to the conclusion that it is Iran which escapes from the negotiations,” he added.

Yet, Salehi expressed the confidence that the world public opinion is well aware of the western powers’ tricks and plots.

In relevant remarks on Monday, Salehi also dismissed the western states’ claims that Tehran is killing time in resuming talks with the G5+1, stressing the country’s readiness for negotiations with the world powers.

“We have always announced that we are ready for negotiations until reaching a result,” Salehi told reporters in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of the 20th Summit of the African Union (AU).

He said that Iran was never the side which withdrew from the negotiations and it is always prepared for talks.

Asked about the reason for the postponement of the January talks between Iran and the world power to an unspecified time, Salehi said the G5+1 should be blamed for it.

Iran has proposed Egypt to host the negotiations which was welcomed by the officials in Cairo but the G5+1 didn’t accept this proposal and said “it is interested in holding the negotiations in another place”, he added.

He also said half a dozen countries have offered to host the negotiations.

“Kazakhstan, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkmenistan have proposed to host the next round of negotiations,” Salehi said.

Asked if Turkey is also seen by Tehran as a potential host for the talks, the Iranian foreign minister said, “Turkey is considered as one of our best options and we don’t have any problem” with its hosting the talks.

The last round of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany was held in Moscow in June.

Earlier this month, Iran’s top negotiator in talks with the world powers Saeed Jalili had said Tehran and the Group 5+1 would resume talks later this month, although the place and date for the negotiations have not been finalized.

Jalili told reporters in New Delhi that Tehran has agreed to a new round of talks this month.

“We have accepted that these talks should be held in January … but till now the details have not been finalized,” he said.

But in a telephone conversation with Undersecretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Baqeri earlier this month, Deputy of EU Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid said that they are not ready to negotiate with Iran this month.

Schmid is the number two of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the G5+1 group in talks with Iran.

Iran’s deputy chief negotiator, for his part, said that Iran is ready to attend the talks and asked the group to remain committed to the date agreed upon for talks in January.