Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, arrived in Istanbul on Thursday at the head of a delegation to attend the meeting between Iranian officials and Group 5+1 (France, China, US, Russia, UK plus Germany) slated for January 21-22, IRNA reported.
Jalili was welcomed by Iranian ambassador to Turkey, Bahman Hosseinpour and Iranian consul in Istanbul, Mahmoud Heidari.
Upon his arrival in Turkey, Jalili thanked Turkish officials for their efforts to help resolve the nuclear dispute with the western governments.
He said that the International Atomic Energy Agency in its repetitive reports over the past five years has verified non-diversion of Iranian nuclear program from Non-Proliferation Treaty and the IAEA Safeguards Agreement.
"We announced in Geneva meetings that there is no need to a halt in negotiations", said Jalili, rejecting the claims that Iran is buying time.