Iran’s Jalili agrees to meet P5+1’s Ashton in mid-May

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili has agreed to meet European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the P5+1 group of world powers, later this month, Press TV reports.

A source close to the talks between Tehran and the P5+1 told Press TV that Jalili, who is also the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, would seek answers to Iran’s proposals to the six powers made in the Kazakh city of Almaty in April.

Ashton’s office had earlier announced that the meeting would be held on May 15th in the Turkish city of Istanbul as a “follow-up to the last round of negotiations held in Almaty.”

Iran and the P5+1 – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – have held several rounds of talks mainly over Iran’s nuclear energy program. Their latest rounds of talks were held in Almaty on April 5-6 and February 26-27.

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Washington and the European Union have used the allegation to impose several rounds of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.