Tehran nixes Turkey as nuclear talks host

Iranian foreign policy committee head says Istanbul no longer a favored option, Baghdad preferred

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran (photo credit: Channel 2 News)
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran (photo credit: Channel 2 News)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The head of an influential foreign policy committee in Iran’s parliament said Thursday that the country is not interested in having Turkey host talks with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The comments by Alaeedin Boroujerdi do not represent the final word by Iran’s ruling system, but strongly suggest a possible impasse ahead of talks set to start April 13.

Boroujerdi was quoted as saying Thursday that Turkey is no longer acceptable because of its policies — a reference to Turkish pressures on the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key Iranian ally.

Boroujerdi supports Baghdad as a venue, one of several alternative sites floated by Iran in recent days.

Boroujerdi’s comments appeared in the independent Etemad daily.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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