Renewed nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of nuclear
negotiators are expected to take place on April 13, Iranian Foreign
Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Wednesday, Iran's official news agency
IRNA reported.
A venue for the talks will be finalized in the
coming days, Salehi said at a ceremony welcoming Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran, adding that Istanbul has expressed
readiness to host the talks.
Erdogan arrived in Tehran Wednesday
morning for a two-day visit that will include meetings with Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani.
Salehi received the Turkish delegation upon its arrival in Tehran.
Erdogan
arrived with a delegation including his foreign minister, Ahmet
Davutoglu, his energy minister, undersecretary of intelligence, deputy
chief of the Turkish General Staff, head of the Turkish Atomic Energy
Organization and a number of parliamentarians, official Iranian news
agency IRNA reported.
The talks were expected to cover Iran's
nuclear program, recent developments in the Middle East and ties between
the two countries, according to the report.
On
Tuesday, a Western diplomat told Reuters he expected the meetings
to be held on April 13-14, while another envoy said those dates had not
been confirmed and a third suggested later in the month was possible.
The venue was unclear, they said.
A spokesman for European Union
foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who handles dealings with Iran on
behalf of the big powers, said "nothing has been decided yet" regarding
the time and place for a meeting.
The last meeting over the
nuclear work that Iran says is peaceful but the West suspects has
military links took place in Istanbul in January 2011, when the two
sides failed even to agree on an agenda.
Reuters contributed to this report.