Senior Iran MP nixes Turkey for nuke talks

TEHRAN - The Associated Press

The head of foreign policy committee in Iran’s parliament said the country does not want Turkey to host talks with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program, raising further questions about whether negotiations can begin as scheduled next week.

The comments by Alaeddin Boroujerdi do not represent the final word by Iran’s ruling system, but strongly suggest a growing impasse ahead of talks set to start April 13 between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany.

Boroujerdi, head of the parliamentary committee for national security and foreign policy, supported Baghdad as a venue, one of several alternative sites floated by Iran in recent days. “Iranian officials are not interested in Turkey as the host,” Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by the independent Etemad newspaper.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief and coordinator of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group informed Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu that Baghdad was out of question and the group was happy with Istanbul’s hosting the meeting during a phone conversation late April 3.