Talks next month between Iran
and six world powers on Tehran's nuclear program
will probably be held in Turkey, E.U.
foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday.
The talks from Oct. 1 will "very likely" be held in Turkey,
Solana told reporters in Brussels
ahead of E.U. foreign ministers' talks.
The five U.N. Security Council permanent members - the U.S., Russia,
China, U.K. and France - plus Germany are due to take part in the talks with Iran's
top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
"At this point in time, we are going to try to enter into a negotiation,"
said Solana, stressing the "double-track approach,", namely the
carrot and stick of trade, aid and sanctions.
It will be the first high-level meeting since the Obama administration took
over in the U.S. and
initiated its more open policy towards Tehran,
a European diplomatic source said.
The last encounter, with the U.S.
taking part, was in July 2008 in Geneva.
The meeting comes after Iran
submitted a document to world powers laying out its position on resolving
several global security problems. The text said the Islamic republic was ready
to enter into negotiations on a number of issues.
Western nations are calling on Iran
to halt its uranium enrichment drive which they suspect is for making atomic
weapons.
Tehran denies
the charges and says its nuclear programme has peaceful goals.
The U.S. has said the new
offers from Iran
are "not really responsive" to concerns about its nuclear programme,
dampening hopes for new talks aimed at breaking a three-year impasse.
Tehran is
already under three sets of U.N. sanctions and European diplomats said Friday
that the E.U. could consider introducing more unilateral sanctions if the U.N.
Security Council can't agree to do so.