Iran says 5+1 not interested in preliminary meetings before Moscow talks

TEHRAN, June 6 (MNA) – Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) agreed in the Baghdad talks on May 24 that the deputy chief nuclear negotiators from the two sides hold preliminary and expert meetings to prepare the ground for major talks in Moscow on June 18-19. However, Helga Schmid, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s deputy, has not yet responded to a letter by Ali Baqeri, the deputy to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Saeed Jalili, which was sent 5 days after the Baghdad talks. As the 5+1 group did not show interest for holing such a meeting, again on June 5 Baqeri wrote a second letter to Schmid insisting the need for holding preparatory talks in efforts to achieve a success in follow-up to negotiations in Istanbul on April 14 and in Baghdad on May 23 and 24.