EU foreign policy chief hopes Iran-5+1 talks will advance ‘swiftly’

TEHRAN,March 12(MNA) – European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed hope that the next round of talks between Iran and the major powers would advance swiftly and seriously. Ashton represents the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) in nuclear negotiations with Iran. “We hope from the contacts we’ve had that this process can now move forward swiftly and seriously,” Ashton said at a press conference in Gymnich, Denmark, on Saturday after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the Los Angeles Times reported. Ashton also said that no date or time for the talks has yet been fixed but that the EU and senior Iranian officials will meet “in the next day or so” to agree this. The EU foreign policy chief sent a reply letter to Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili on March 6 and offered to resume talks with the Islamic Republic. The Istanbul-based Hürriyet Daily News wrote on March 9 that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had announced that Istanbul would host the talks, which are expected to be held in April. The last round of talks between Iran and the 5+1 group was held in Istanbul in late January 2011.