Catherine Ashton, the head of EU foreign policy, and Saeed Jalili, Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme Council of National Security, will meet tomorrow, September 18, in Turkey.
A spokeswoman for Ashton described the meeting as “part of continuing efforts to engage with Iran, led by the High Representative, and in line with the understandings reached at the negotiating round in Moscow in June.
She added: “While it is not a formal negotiating round, the meeting will be an opportunity to stress once again to Iran the need for an urgent and meaningful confidence-building step and to show more flexibility with the proposals … tabled in Baghdad [in May].”
Jalili reportedly arrived in Istanbul today to meet with Ahmet Davotuglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, to discuss the recent developments concerning the latest meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors.
The IAEA board passed a resolution last week expressing concern regarding Iran’s nuclear activities.
The IAEA has called for action on Iran’s part to ease international concerns about its nuclear program, citing an inspection of Parchin Military Base as one of its first priorities.
While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, world powers fear that it may have military ambitions within its nuclear activities.
Iran is now under severe sanctions by EU member states, which have threatened to increase the pressure should the nuclear talks fail.
