EU's Ashton, Iran FM to hold talks in Istanbul

General view of a heavy water plant in Arak EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are to meet Monday in Istanbul to discuss the path toward a final nuclear deal. The previously unannounced two-day meeting comes after fruitless talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna earlier this month when no "tangible progress" was made ahead of a July 20 deadline for a comprehensive agreement.
The Istanbul tete-a-tete was announced on Iranian media, with the ISNA news agency citing a source close to the Islamic republic's nuclear negotiating team.
Ashton and Zarif, who is being accompanied on the trip by senior members of his nuclear negotiations team, will meet at 3:30 pm (1230 GMT), ISNA said. A dinner at the Iranian consulate will follow.
No representatives from the P5+1 group -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany -- which is negotiating with Iran will be at the meeting, the report added.
Speaking to the official IRNA news agency prior to his departure, the foreign minister reiterated that snags along the way to a conclusive deal "may be part of negotiation tactics," but differences should be hammered out at the table.
"We must continue the talks with patience to get results," Zarif said, suggesting "new options" or a need for measures "that would satisfy the other side" must be considered. He did not elaborate.
No further details of the discussions with Ashton in Istanbul were disclosed but the last round of talks in Vienna proved that major issues remain.
These reportedly include the scope of Iran's enrichment of uranium, which if further purified could be used to trigger a nuclear explosion, and its unfinished Arak research reactor, whose by-product waste could provide an alternative route to an atomic bomb.
Iranian and Western negotiators spoke of major gaps between the two sides at the Vienna talks. The differences prevented a start being made on an early draft agreement.
Iran's refusal in Vienna to include its development of ballistic missiles within a nuclear agreement also reportedly caused a rift.
But all sides have since expressed willingness to continue the talks.
The P5+1 is seeking to curb Iran's disputed nuclear activities. International monitors suspect Tehran could be masking military objectives.
Iran -- which denies ever seeking nuclear weaponry and insists its atomic work is for purely civilian purposes -- wants an end to harsh sanctions choking its economy.
It also wants access to billions of dollars of its assets which were frozen abroad.
Zarif will head to Algeria when his talks with Ashton conclude on Tuesday.
Source: AFP