Long-stalled talks between Iran and world powers are to be revived on April 13 at a place yet to be agreed, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying yesterday by official media.
Salehi announced the date as he welcomed visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran for a two-day visit focusing on Iran’s nuclear program and bilateral ties, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
“The venue will be announced in coming days,” the news agency quoted Salehi as saying.
Salehi added that Iran considered Istanbul — the location of the previous round of talks, which collapsed in January last year — the “best place,” but that options were still being discussed.
Iran’s principal nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, would announce any agreement on where the talks will take place, Salehi said.
Turkey’s ambassador to Tehran was quoted by Iran’s Press TV as saying: “Turkey stands ready to host the talks between Iran and the P5+1 group, but everything depends on an agreement between Iran and the P5+1.”
The discussions are to be held between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members — the US, Russia, France, Britain and China — plus Germany.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the P5+1, had said as recently as Tuesday that no date nor venue had yet been agreed.
Western diplomats accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna also said on Tuesday that they were not aware of any agreement fixing the place and date of the talks.
The talks carry hopes of defusing a tense international showdown over Iran’s nuclear activities, which has sent oil prices soaring.
Israel has brandished the threat of possible military action against Iran’s nuclear sites, while the US has put its energies into sanctions and diplomacy, but has not ruled out the military option.
Salehi said as he greeted Erdogan at Tehran’s international airport that Iran-Turkey bilateral ties would be first raised during the visit.
“Before going into the nuclear issue, we will discuss bilateral relations. The two countries have deep and broad ties, and over the course of this visit we will talk about ways to boost trade and economic relations,” he said.
Salehi said Iran-Turkey trade reached about US$16 billion a year, but could reach US$30 billion by 2015.
Turkey relies on Iran for 30 percent of its oil imports and has refused to go along with sanctions imposed by the US and Europe, saying it will observe only UN-mandated restrictions on Iran.
However, Turkey is also a NATO member, and it has agreed to deploy parts of an anti-missile shield that could be used against Iran, a point that has generated friction in the past with its neighbor.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese