EU gives no date for Iran talks

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News
The timetable for a planned meeting between the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, over the country's nuclear program is not yet clear. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who met Ashton over the weekend, will hold further talks with her in New York. Diplomatic sources, meanwhile, say the West remains mistrustful of Iran
A weekend meeting between Turkey’s foreign minister and the European Union’s foreign policy chief produced no clear date for talks over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, according to diplomatic sources.

Turkey had earlier said a meeting between EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, might occur in early September.

“The idea of an Ashton-Jalili meeting has not reached a further step. The debate among the P5+1 countries [the five permanent United Nations Security Council members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany] and the Vienna Group is still ongoing,” a diplomatic source speaking on condition of anonymity told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday.

“The P5+1 countries and the Vienna Group remain mistrustful of Iran,” said the source.

The Turkish foreign minister held talks with Ashton in Brussels on Saturday, during which a large portion of their meeting was devoted to Iran and the Middle East peace talks, diplomatic sources said.

Davutoğlu is expected to meet again with Ashton for further talks on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York that begin Tuesday. Davutoğlu will fly to New York on Thursday.

Turkey is offering its help in finding a diplomatic solution to the row between the international community and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. In July, Turkey hosted a trilateral summit in Istanbul with the foreign ministers of Iran and Brazil, which came after the U.N. Security Council approved another round of sanctions against Iran. Turkey and Brazil voted against the resolution, standing behind the nuclear swap deal they agreed on with Tehran.

In remarks following the Istanbul summit, Davutoğlu said nuclear negotiations between Ashton and Jalili might resume in early September and expressed Turkey’s readiness to host them if needed.