Iran to offer ‘new initiatives’ in nuclear talks

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said his country was prepared to offer “new initiatives” at upcoming nuclear talks in Istanbul.

“Iran’s representatives will participate in the negotiations with new initiatives,” Saeed Jalili was quoted as saying Wednesday by the official Iranian news agency, IRNA. “We hope that the P5+1 countries will also enter talks with constructive approaches.”

Iran is scheduled to hold a fresh round of negotiations about its nuclear program with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France—plus Germany, the so-called P5+1, beginning Friday in Turkey.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that the United States and Europe would open the negotiations by demanding the closing of the Fordo nuclear enrichment facility, which is buried in a mountain near the holy city of Qom, and the suspension of uranium production efforts considered close to weapons-grade. President Obama has called upcoming talks Iran’s “last chance.”