Talks between world powers and Iran on its disputed nuclear programme will take place in Istanbul on January 21 and 22, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday, local media reported. The dates corresponded to those given by Iran's Fars news agency in a report on Friday, after European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's spokeswoman said she was looking at resuming the talks on January 20. Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted Davutoglu as saying Ashton would be in Istanbul next week to start preparing for the meeting. A previous round of talks between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- spearheaded by Ashton, took place in Geneva on December 6-7. That round followed a 14-month hiatus in the talks on Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which Tehran insists is peaceful but the US and its allies believe is aimed at developing an atom bomb. The US State Department said it looked forward to the next round of talks and "would like to see a meaningful negotiations process emerge," without specifying dates. Tehran sprang a new surprise Saturday ahead of the discussions, saying it could now make its own nuclear fuel plates and rods, technology the West claims the Islamic republic does not possess.
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