Senior Iranian lawmaker says no to Turkey as host for nuclear talks

An Iranian lawmaker who runs a foreign policy committee in
the parliament says Iran finds Turkey an unacceptable venue for the nuclear
talks scheduled to begin next week between Tehran and six world powers.

The statement by the lawmaker, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, raises new
questions about whether the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group — the
five United Nations Security Council members plus Germany — will go on as
scheduled, as well as how effective they will ultimately be.

{mosads}”Iranian officials are not interested in Turkey as the
host,” Boroujerdi was quoted as saying in the independent Etemad
newspaper, according to the Associated Press.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced over the
weekend that Istanbul would host the talks, which are scheduled for April 14-15.

But a number of Iranian officials have suggested other
locations, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and China.

The Iranians are objecting to Turkey as a host for the talks
because of its involvement in the Syrian crisis, as Turkey has aligned with
Western and Arab League nations to oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s
violent crackdown. Syria is a close ally of Iran.

Istanbul was the location for last year’s talks between Iran
and the P5+1 group, which failed to achieve progress on Iran’s nuclear program.

The United States and its allies say Iran is looking to
obtain nuclear weapons, while Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes
only.

When asked about the venue change Wednesday, Clinton said: “we
are not interested in talks for the sake of talks.”

“We want to see a peaceful resolution of the international
community’s concerns,” she said. “But the time for diplomacy is not infinite,
and all options remain on the table to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

Tensions between Iran and the West have escalated in recent
months, as Iran has boosted nuclear production and Israeli has threatened a military
strike to stop Iran’s program. President Obama has urged time for sanctions from
the United States and the European Union to take effect.