No decision reached on venue of Iran-P5+1 talks

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says the final decision regarding the venue of the upcoming talks between Tehran and the six major world powers has not been made as of yet. “The date of the talks has been announced. But the final decision has not yet been made about the venue of the talks,” Salehi said on Wednesday. The Iranian Foreign Minister announced on March 28 that the next round of talks with the P5+1 --Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany-- will be held on April 13. Salehi said different countries such as Iraq have been considered as potential venues for the negotiation, adding that, “The date and venue for the talks might be important, but the subjects of the talks are more significant.” “I think the upcoming talks will be better than the previous ones,” Salehi said, expressing hope that a step forward would be taken during the next round of negotiations. Iran and the P5+1 have held two rounds of multifaceted talks, one in Geneva in December 2010 and another in the Turkish city of Istanbul in January 2011. While Tehran says it is ready to continue the talks based on common grounds, it has stressed that it will not give up any of its rights. The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program and have used this pretext to impose unilateral and international sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Iran has refuted the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to peaceful use of nuclear technology.