EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (right) enters a hall to attend a news conference after the talks on Iran’s nuclear programme in the Kazakh city of Almaty yesterday.
ALMATY: Iran and world powers yesterday failed to break the deadlock in the crisis over Tehran’s nuclear drive, with the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton saying the positions were still “far apart”.
After two days of exhausting diplomacy in the Kazakh city of Almaty, no new date was agreed for the resumption of talks searching for an elusive breakthrough after more than a decade of tensions.
“It is fair to say that Iran is willing to take very limited steps on its nuclear programme while expecting very significant results in return,” a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
“They put forward some minimal ideas but expected a great return and a quite disproportionate return.”
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili praised the talks as “comprehensive” but indicated that Tehran wanted to see more put on the table by the world powers to “gain the confidence” of the Iranian people.
The world powers had offered some easing of the sanctions that have hurt Iran’s economy in the past two years in return for Tehran accepting limits on its nuclear programme.
But speaking after the talks wrapped up, Ashton admitted that the world powers were still waiting to see “real engagement” from Iran over their proposal.
“It became clear that the positions (of the world powers) and Iran remain far apart on the substance,” Ashton told reporters.
Unlike at the previous round of talks in Almaty in February which ended more cordially, the two sides did not agree a time and a place to hold the next meeting.
Instead, Ashton said the sides had decided to go back to their capitals to discuss what to do next and promised that she would be in touch with Jalili.
The US official said Ashton would be calling Jalili within a matter of days, adding that the talks were much more substantive than they had been in the past.
“It was really a lot of give and take—quite different from the last times. But you still have to get to the substance. The substance is not there yet,” the US official said.
Ashton represents the world powers—comprised of the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany and known collectively as the P5+1 —as chief negotiator.
AFP
