Mottaki welcomes EU's readiness to resume talks with Iran
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Oct 15, IRNA -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki welcomed the European Union's readiness to resume talks over Tehran's nuclear program, the German press agency dpa reported in Brussels on Friday.
'It is good news that, from the (EU headquarters) here (in Brussels), they are following the matter, and I think that is the way to coordinate some specific and fixed date for starting negotiations,' Mottaki said upon arrival at the EU's
headquarters for a meeting on the situation in Pakistan.
'October or November is, from our point of view, a good time for the re-establishment of negotiations between Iran and the 5+1,' he added.
On Thursday, the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, invited Iran to jump-start negotiations and suggested a three-day meeting in Vienna in mid-November as the venue.
'We are ready to start (talks) ... We'd like to get on with it, so what I've done is propose dates and places, made a suggestion of the length of time we should meet for, and so on,' Ashton was quoted as saying on Friday.
Earlier this week, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman had accused Ashton of being less committed to the nuclear talks than her predecessor Javier Solana.
Tehran has several times said it was ready to resume nuclear talks with the western powers.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said his country would be prepared for talks but stressed that the talks should in the first place recognize Iran's legitimate rights to pursue peaceful nuclear projects, including the uranium enrichment process.
OT**1420
Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30020932
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