Iran and six world powers achieved little in two days of intense nuclear talks in Baghdad except arranging another meeting in Moscow next month and establishing they are poles apart on crucial issues.
The next diplomatic effort by Iran and the P5+1 — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany —
at one stage even looked unlikely to happen until eleventh-hour efforts managed to salvage the process, for now.
“We remain determined to resolve this problem in the near term through negotiations, and will continue to make
every effort to that end,” Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, said after two “very intense” days of talks.
“What we have now is some common ground and a meeting in place where we can take that further forward,” she said,
announcing another round in Moscow on June 18-19. In the meantime they will “maintain intensive contacts.”
She added however that there remained “significant differences” and that Iran must take “concrete and practical
steps to urgently meet the concerns of the international community.”
The main bone of contention was — and will remain in Moscow — the speed at which the P5+1 eases sanctions if the
Islamic republic scales back the most sensitive parts of its nuclear programme, at least temporarily.
Ashton put forward in the Iraqi capital on behalf of the six powers a new package of proposals that clearly went
down badly with the Iranians.
The P5+1 want Iran to suspend the area of Iran’s activities that most raises their suspicions that Iran is
seeking to develop a nuclear arsenal, namely the enrichment of uranium to purities of 20 per cent.
In return reports indicated the international powers offered a variety of sweeteners including fuel plates for a
reactor producing medical isotopes, relaxing restrictions on aircraft parts and nuclear safety assistance.
But this falls short of the lifting of the whole raft of UN Security Council and unilateral Western sanctions that
have been directed at Iran for years.
—————————(AFP)