“The U.S. and its European allies will press Iran for tangible action to curb its nuclear program when talks restart later this week after a 15-month hiatus.
Nuclear negotiations between Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members plus Germany will take place starting April 14 in Istanbul, European Union spokesman Michael Mann said yesterday. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Laura Seal confirmed the plans.
“We have agreed to launch talks in Istanbul on April 14,” Mann said. “We hope that this first round will produce a conducive environment for concrete progress. We are of course aiming at a sustained process.”
The U.S. and its allies are seeking to avoid a repeat of the previous meeting in January 2011, also in Istanbul, when talks broke down after Iran demanded a lifting of UN sanctions as a condition for discussing the nuclear program. Iran is under increasing economic pressure from trade, financial and energy sanctions, including U.S. and EU measures to cut oil purchases from Iran.
In a joint statement March 8, the U.S. and its five partners in the talks — China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K. — said they wanted sustained discussions with Iran and for the Persian Gulf nation to allow UN inspectors into its secret Parchin military installation.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the six powers should demand that Iran stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and give up any material already processed to that level. Iran also must shut down the Fordo underground enrichment facility near Qom, Barak said in an interview broadcast yesterday on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” program….”
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