Iran hopes May 23 talks with world powers in Baghdad over its disputed nuclear programme will result in “success,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday, according to ISNA news agency. “The Istanbul talks were a success and we hope that the Baghdad meeting also will be a success, and if we took one step forward in Istanbul surely, with God’s help, we will take several steps ahead in Baghdad,” Salehi said in a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart. “We were at the beginning of the end regarding (Iran’s) nuclear issue in Istanbul, and we hope in a not-so-far future we will witness the closure of this manufactured dossier,” he added. Iran is to meet representatives of the so-called P5+1 group, comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, in Iraq’s capital for the second round of talks which were revived this month in Istanbul after a 15-month impasse. The Istanbul talks sought to establish a non-confrontational tone allowing the more substantial Baghdad session to go ahead.
