Iran, 5+1 group may resume talks

Mehr News – Iran and the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) may resume their negotiations soon, according to the recent remarks made by a number of Iranian and EU officials.

The European Union is open to meaningful talks with Tehran provided there are no preconditions on the Iranian side, an EU foreign policy spokesman said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

“We continue to pursue our twin-track approach and are open for meaningful discussions on confidence-building measures, without preconditions from the Iranian side,” EU foreign policy spokesman, Michael Mann, said in an email.

He added that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton wrote to Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili in October and had not yet had a response.

Efforts underway to resume Iran-5+1 talks

The Iranian ambassador to Germany said on Saturday that the future round of talks will be held after Jalili sends a letter to Ashton.

Speaking to the Mehr News Agency, Ambassador Alireza Sheikh-Attar said, “Negotiations are underway in this regard, and correspondence has been exchanged, and another correspondence will be conducted on our part, and after that, a meeting will be arranged.”

“Mr. Jalili is supposed to send a letter to Ms. Ashton so that” the preparations could be made, he stated.

“After Mr. Jalili’s correspondence, new rounds of talks will be held between Iran and the 5+1,” Sheikh-Attar added.

Iran has advised 5+1 to return to talks

In addition, Jalili said on Saturday that Iran has advised the 5+1 group to return to talks based on common ground for cooperation.

“We have officially told them to return to the path of negotiation for cooperation,” he said during a speech at a gathering of Iran’s ambassadors and heads of missions to foreign countries and international organizations.

“Different messages (issued) by the Westerners indicate their problems and internal disagreements,” he commented.

In late January, a new round of talks between Iran and the major powers was held in Istanbul but no date was set for the next round of negotiations.

After the end of the Geneva talks in early December 2010, Jalili announced that Iran and the 5+1 group had agreed that the future talks would focus on common ground for cooperation.

However, the 5+1 group reneged on the agreement, and after the end of the Geneva talks, Ashton read out a statement saying the nuclear issue would be the focus of the next round of talks, a move which drew strong criticism from Iranian officials.

The main bone of contention between Tehran and the West is Iran’s uranium enrichment program.