Iran announced today that it has proposed Turkey as the venue for talks with the world powers over its nuclear program. Notwithstanding the venue, this is an official Iranian acceptance of the invitation by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to hold talks with P5+1. Ashton had originally proposed Vienna, where the IAEA headquarters are located, as the venue for talks.
"In the last two or three days, we informed our Turkish friends that we agree to hold negotiations in Turkey," Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran.
Turkey gave its approval on Sunday to host the talks [Anatolia News Agency, 7 November].
"Turkey has made lots of efforts since the start of the process for a diplomatic solution to be found," an unnamed Turkish official was quoted by Anatolia as saying. "We are ready to do whatever is in our power."
The nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States -- have been deadlocked since October 2009 when the two sides met in Geneva.
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