Negotiations between Iran and the world powers known as the P5+1 cannot go on
forever, and “the time will come when negotiations must end and actions must
begin,” Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday.
Liberman’s
comments on the Iranian issue at a press conference in Brussels during the
EU-Israel Association Council meeting came just as Iranian and European
officials were set to begin meeting in Istanbul.
“After three rounds of
negotiation in Istanbul, Baghdad and Moscow I think it is the right time to draw
some conclusions,” Liberman said.
“We have patience, we are waiting and
anxiously monitoring these talks, but also hope to see substantial
results.”
At last month’s talks in Moscow, which failed to produce any
results, it was decided to hold three lower-level meetings. The first, between
technical experts, was held July 3 in Istanbul. The second, between the EU’s
Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid and her Iranian counterpart Ali
Bagheir, was held away from the press and in a secret location in Istanbul on
Tuesday.
And another meeting between EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine
Ashton and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is to follow in the
coming days. Ashton is representing the P5+1, which includes the US, Russia,
China, France, Britain and Germany. The aim of these three rounds of lower-level
talks is to see whether there is any room to return to political
negotiations.
No details of Tuesday’s meeting were immediately
available.
The P5+1 are demanding that Iran – as a first
confidence-building measure – stop enriching uranium at 20 percent, transfer its
stockpile of 20% enriched uranium out of the country, and close the Fordow
enrichment facility near Qom.
These demands are far less stringent than
what Israel believes should be the goal of the negotiations: an end to all
uranium enrichment, shipping all enriched uranium out of the country and the
closure of Fordow.