EU foreign policy chief hopes talks with Iran can advance ‘very soon’

TEHRAN,Oct.16(MNA) - The European Union's foreign policy chief announced on Monday that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program could move forward very soon, Reuters reported. "I hope we will be able to make progress very soon," Catherine Ashton, who represents six major powers in talks with Iran, told reporters in Luxembourg, referring to the resumption of talks. "I absolutely think there is room for negotiations." Ashton last met Iran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalili in Istanbul in September, in talks that her spokesman described as "useful and constructive". Ali Baqeri, Jalili’s deputy, said on October 6 that Iran is still waiting for major powers’ response to the proposals it put forward during the talks in Baghdad on May 23 and 24 and elaborated on during the talks in Moscow on June 18 and 19. Iran has said the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) must recognize Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment so that the talks can move forward. As a signatory the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran is legally entitled to master nuclear technology for civilian purposes. In an interview in late September President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the talks over Iran’s nuclear program with the 5+1 group will result in “a very important decision” following the presidential election in the U.S. in November. “We have seen during many years that as we approach the United States’ presidential election, no important decisions are made,” Ahmadinejad told the CNN. “Following the election, certainly the atmosphere will be much more stable, and important decisions can be made and announced.”