Xinhua: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that no concrete advancement was achieved in his talks with Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Tuesday. BERLIN, June 5 (Xinhua) — German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that no concrete advancement was achieved in his talks with Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Tuesday.
In a reply to a question whether there had been any concrete progress on the nuclear issue, Steinmeier said, “I could not say that.”
He added that such talks were mainly meant to encourage more flexibility on the Iranian side and to persuade Tehran to alter its current policy.
“That has to be a continuous effort,” he noted, saying that he would wait and see if talks between Larijani and European Union diplomatic and security chief Javier Solana could achieve something this month.
A foreign ministry spokeswoman said the talks were a follow-up of discussions on Iran’s nuclear issue between Larijani and Solana.
Last week, Larijani and Solana met in Madrid on Iran’s nuclear issue. The Iranian representative described their meeting as “a step forward.”
They had agreed to meet again in two weeks.
The G8 summit, scheduled on June 6-8 in Germany’s Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, is expected to seek to impose fresh UN sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment activities.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purpose, but Western countries believe it means to develop nuclear weapons.
