5+1 talks with Iran to be held in Almaty on February 26

The talks of 5+1 with Iran on its nuclear problem are going to be held on February 26 in Kazakhstan, RIA Novosti writes citing Iranian media. According to a EU official representative, the event will be held in Almaty. “High representative (Baroness Catherine Ashton) hopes that the talks will be successful and a certain progress will be achieved in finding a solution that would be a respond to the fears of the global community over the Iranian nuclear program,” Ashton’s press-secretary Michael Mann said. Earlier Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow was expecting an official reply from Tehran to the suggestion to hold the meeting of 5+1 and Iranian representatives in Kazakhstan. “The Iranian party is reviewing the suggestion to hold the next meeting of 5+1 with Iran in Kazakhstan in the fourth week of February. We are expecting Tehran’s official respond on that,” the authority said. Catherine Ashton also stated that the EU was expecting Iran to give an official confirmation of its agreement to hold a new round of talks with 5+1. Tehran and representatives of 5+1 (Russia, the United States, China, France, Britain and Germany) held three rounds of talks in 2012: in Istanbul (April 14), Baghdad (May 23-24) and Moscow (June 18-19). All these meetings were aimed at resolving the standoff over Iran's nuclear activities, but did not yield any positive results. The negotiations of 5+1 and Iran were not held for over a year before that.