Iran and six world powers have agreed to meet on April 13 for new talks about Tehran's nuclear program, but the failure of previous meetings and disputes over what should be discussed are keeping them from choosing a venue, diplomats told the Associated Press on Monday.
According to AP's informants, Russia, UK, Germany, China, USA and France are not agreeing to the suggestion of Iran to hold talks in Istanbul, since the last round of dialogues which took place in Istanbul 14 months ago did not lead to any agreements. The representatives of Iran are not willing to hold talks in Vienna, as it is the seat of the IAEA, which recently released a report claiming that Iran is working on producing a nuclear weapon, RIA-Novosti reports.
The diplomats said both sides were not keen about Geneva, the site of a failed 2010 meeting. One said Belgium was being discussed. Another suggested that outside of Vienna and Geneva, other Austrian and Swiss venues were still open.
The six international mediators have been seeking to suspend Iran's uranium enrichment since 2003, in cooperation with the IAEA. The negotiations were interrupted in 2009 when the Board of Governors of the IAEA condemned Iran for developing a second plant to enrich uranium and called on Tehran to confirm that "no decisions were made on the construction of other nuclear facilities, which are not declared to the agency."
