IranIraq

Iraq Voices Readiness to Host Iran-Powers Talks

Iraqi Government Spokesman Ali al-Dabbaq announced Baghdad’s preparedness to host the upcoming talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

“Iran has officially asked for holding talks with the Group 5+1 in Baghdad,” Dabbaq told FNA on Wednesday.

“This request is under study at present,” the spokesman added.

“Baghdad is ready to host any gathering or conference which will help resolve regional problems and welcomes hosting the talks between Iran and G5+1 to the same end,” he added.

The last meeting between the two sides took place in Istanbul in January 2011. Iran and the G5+1 had also held two rounds of multifaceted talks in Geneva in December 2010.

Iranian officials had earlier voiced interest in holding the talks with the world powers in Istanbul, but political circles and figures in the country have started increasing demand for changing the venue from Istanbul to another regional capital after Turkey intensified its efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and hosted a conference on Syria on Sunday attended by almost all interventionist sides.

On Monday, Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezayee called on Tehran’s nuclear and foreign policy officials to change the venue of the upcoming talks with the world powers from Istanbul, Turkey, to another regional capital like Baghdad, Damascus or Beirut.

“Given the fact that our friends in Turkey have failed to fulfill some of our agreements, the talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) had better be held in another friendly country,” Rezayee said.

Meantime, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said earlier today that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested a venue for upcoming talks between Iran and the Group 5+1, which will be announced soon.

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting here in Tehran Wednesday morning, Salehi stated that the date for the talks has already been fixed for April 13, 2012.

About the place of the talks, he said that during the cabinet’s meeting this morning President Ahmadinejad suggested a venue for the talks, which would be later declared by Secretary of the SNSC Saeed Jalili.

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