Fidan pushes for talks

Turkey’s powerful foreign minister said on Saturday that there is no serious initiative to resume negotiations between the United States and Iran but that he believes Iran is open to back-channel talks. The comments by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview came as Ankara is striving to stay out of the widening war in the Middle East. Ankara, which has good relations with both Washington and Tehran, had attempted to mediate a solution between them before the US and Israel attacked Iran two weeks ago, triggering the war. “The conditions are not very much conducive” to diplomacy now, Fidan said. The Iranians “feel betrayed” because for a second time they were attacked while in active negotiations with the US over their nuclear programme, he said.