HIGH-LEVEL NUCLEAR negotiations between Iran and six world powers were suspended last night after talks in Moscow failed to bridge differences between the two sides over the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said significant differences remained and that the two sides had agreed only on a technical follow-up meeting in Istanbul on July 3rd.
Tensions had mounted on the second and final day of the conference, as talks ran on longer than expected. “We came to Moscow for a resolution, but we believe the opposite side is not ready to reach a resolution,” an Iranian diplomat said before the talks had ended.
The breakdown in the talks heightens the risk of war in the Middle East, as Israel has long refused to rule out a military strike on Iran if diplomacy fails.
Iran’s chief negotiator Saeed Jalili had claimed Iran’s right to enrich uranium, a process needed for making nuclear fuel and, at higher concentrations, nuclear bombs.
The six – the US Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany – refuse to recognise Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment, until the Islamic republic allowed international inspections. They want Iran to stop enriching uranium that could be used for weapons, ship out stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and close down the heavily fortified, underground nuclear facility at Fordo.
“Iran must undertake serious efforts aimed at restoring international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme,” US president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin said in a joint statement from the G20 summit in Mexico.
The current round of talks had resumed after a gap of 15 months.
– (Additional reporting: Guardian service)