The major powers and Iran met Friday in Istanbul for talks that Westerners want to focus on Tehran's disputed nuclear program, but with little hope of progress. The talks, which began shortly after 10 am (8:00 GMT) and must continue on Saturday, meet the head of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, through the 5 +1 group (USA, Russia, China, France and Great Britain, plus Germany), representatives of this group, and the chief Iranian negotiator on nuclear, Saeed Jalili.Western powers accuse Iran of failing to comply with UN resolutions demanding a freeze on its uranium enrichment program and open its nuclear sites to inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The exercise looks delicate, Tehran has already firmly reiterated there was no question in Istanbul to the trial of Iran's nuclear activities that the West suspects of wanting to acquire the bomb Atomic.
"We never back down," he recently told the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We welcome the process of cooperation, but you should know that Iranian nation will not yield one iota" on its nuclear program, he added. Tehran has handed over Thursday on the table the agreement on exchange of nuclear fuel concluded last year with Brazil and Turkey.
The Tehran agreement, signed May 17, 2010, provides for the transfer abroad of 1200 kg of low enriched uranium for Iran in exchange for nuclear fuel enriched to 20% to supply a reactor for Medical Research in Tehran. The text, inspired by an advanced offering in October 2009 by the IAEA, has not convinced the West.
The U.S. State Department announced that the U.S. was willing to consider a new agreement that takes into account the progress made by Tehran. "We want to launch a serious process that addresses the practical and substantive problems posed by Iran's nuclear program," he said Thursday as the voice of American diplomacy, Philip Crowley.
The Six hopes at a minimum establish a timetable for further dialogue on the Iranian nuclear issue resumed in Geneva last month after more than a year of interruption. "We do not expect any great breakthrough," said Mark Toner later, a U.S. spokesman, on the Istanbul meeting, referring to the beginning of a process "that will lead Iran to engage with the community International ".
Washington has raised the possibility of further unilateral sanctions, which have already crippled economy and the Iranian nuclear program. However, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, reiterated Thursday that a lifting of sanctions against Iran should also be addressed during the discussions.
"The Iranians are playing the clock is their strategy," commented in this regard the French analyst and expert on Iran Bruno Tertrais. "The Iranians have probably learned from North Korea that we can negotiate time with the United States while continuing a nuclear program," he added. Iran's nuclear program has been condemned by six Security Council resolutions, including four with sanctions and economic policies.
Several countries including the United States have adopted unilateral sanctions reinforce this. Previous discussions between the parties back to early December in Geneva. She had ended without tangible results but with a desire to continue the dialogue. Turkey, a neighbor and close ties with Tehran, is the host of this new round of discussions but not participate.
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