Azerbaijan, Baku, Mar. 2/ Trend F.Milad/
The negotiations are underway with the 5+1 group on the venue of upcoming talks between the two sides, the Iranian foreign affairs minister said.
"There is hope that the other side will express its viewpoint within the next one or two days on the countries which have announced readiness to host the talks," Ali Akbar Salehi told IRNA news agency on Friday.
Personally, I am interested in holding the talks in Istanbul and I hope that the date of the talks will not be so late, he added.
In late January 2011, a new round of talks between Iran and the major powers was held in Istanbul, but no date was set for the next round of the negotiations.
After the Geneva talks ended in early December 2010, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, announced that Iran and the 5+1 group had agreed that the next rounds of the talks should focus on a common ground for the cooperation.
However, the 5+1 group reneged on the agreement, and after the Geneva talks, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the major powers in nuclear negotiations with Tehran, read out a statement saying the nuclear issue would be the focus of the next round of the talks, a move which drew strong criticism from Iranian officials.
On February 15, 2012, Jalili sent a reply to Ashton's letter dated October 2011.
Jalili's letter to Ashton contains the proposals about the date, venue, and agenda of a new round of talks.
Ashton said on February 27, 2012 that she is optimistic that the talks could begin soon.