Clinton told a news conference Saturday in Riyadh that the talks would be held April 13-14 in Istanbul. But in successive days, both Russian and German officials said there was no agreement yet on either the dates or the venue for the talks.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the Big Six had proposed April 13-14 and Istanbul to Tehran, but Tehran had not responded. And an EU official said Turkey had not yet formally agreed to Istanbul as the locale, although officials there have repeatedly said they were eager for the talks to be held there.
Clinton coupled her announcement with a warning to Iran to talk seriously in Istanbul, saying “the window of opportunity” for talks to resolve the issue “will not remain open forever.” That was almost the same phrase that President Obama had used earlier.
The last talks were held in Istanbul in January 2011. Nothing happened as Iran refused even to discuss its nuclear program.
Clinton was not at all upbeat about the upcoming talks. She indicated she doubted Iran would come to the table with anything useful.
“We enter into these talks with a sober perspective about Iran’s intentions,” she said. “It is incumbent upon Iran to demonstrate by its actions that it is a willing partner and to participate in these negotiations with an effort to obtain concrete results.”
She said, “It soon will be clear whether Iran’s leaders are prepared to have a serious, credible discussion about their nuclear programÖ. It is up to Iran whether they are ready to make the right choice…. What is certain is that Iran’s window of opportunity to seek and obtain a peaceful resolution will not remain open forever.”
Western diplomats and analysts told Reuters they expected the talks would focus on getting Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity as part of an interim agreement. That would allow Iran to continue enrichment up to 5 percent purity. Officially, however, the Big Six are supposed to be trying to bring Iran into compliance with UN Security Council resolutions that have directed Iran to hold all uranium enrichment.
France has reportedly expressed reservations, fearing that a focus on stopping 20 percent enrichment could be seen as “legitimizing” enrichment to 5 percent.
Clinton was in Riyadh to attend a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the grouping of the six Arab states on the south side of the Persian Gulf.