(Edits throughout, adds U.S., Jalili, diplomat quotes)
* World powers and Iran meet for first time in over year
* EU’s Ashton says constructive, to meet in Baghdad May 23
* Iran seeks sanctions lifted, defends enrichment activity
* U.S. demands “concrete progress” as “window closing”
By Fredrik Dahl and Justyna Pawlak
ISTANBUL, April 14 (Reuters) – At their first meeting after
a year of sanctions and sabre-rattling over Iran’s nuclear
programme, negotiators from Tehran and six world powers said
“constructive” talks on Saturday meant they would sit down again
together next month.
A deal to reconvene in Baghdad on May 23 had been billed in
advance by diplomats as a mark of a positive resumption and both
Western and Russian negotiators at the talks in Turkey spoke of
a more engaged tone from Iran, whose chief negotiator said he
wanted to talk next about lifting Western sanctions on Tehran.
Washington made clear such a demand was premature, however.
A senior U.S. official in Istanbul spoke of an “urgency … for
concrete progress” as the “window” for diplomacy was closing.
Over the past year, Israeli and U.S. warnings of military
strikes if Iran does not stop working on some aspects of nuclear
technology have stoked fears of war – and raised oil prices – in
an unsettled Middle East. A resumption of the kind of prolonged
dialogue spoken of by both sides could help dampen anxieties.
“We expect that subsequent meetings will lead to concrete
steps towards a comprehensive negotiated solution which restores
international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of
the Iranian nuclear programme,” said Catherine Ashton, the EU
foreign policy chief who leads negotiations for the six powers.
The group comprises the five permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council – Russia, the United States, China, France and
Britain – along with Germany. It is known as the P5+1.
Calling Saturday’s talks “constructive and useful”, Ashton
said: “We want now to move to a sustained process of dialogue.”
The meeting in Baghdad, a rare friendly venue for Iranians
in the Arab world, would be part of a “step-by-step” approach.
Junior officials would meet again before May 23, she added.
Chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili, however, made clear
that Iran had no intention of stopping its plants that enrich
uranium to contain 20 percent of fissile material – much higher
than the quality needed to generate electricity, but which
Tehran says is for medical and other uses, not for warheads.
Nonetheless, however remote a final accord may be between
the Islamic republic and its adversaries, a return to the
negotiating table may calm nerves after 15 angry months.
In that time, the West has imposed crippling, new economic
sanctions while Iran, watching its key regional ally Syria
collapse into internal strife, has threatened to blockade oil
tankers. And Israel, fearful a nuclear Iran would jeopardise its
very survival, has planned for possible “pre-emptive” strikes.
One diplomat from the six said Iran’s willingness to at
least discuss its nuclear programme marked a shift away from the
stalemate which marked previous meetings early last year: “We
spent the whole day discussing the nuclear issue.”
Before, when Westerners raised allegations of a secret
weapons programme, “they would have walked away”, the envoy
said, adding negotiators were not “overly optimistic” but
saying: “There is a seriousness to discuss the nuclear issue.”
IRAN SEES PROGRESS
The negotiators for Iran, where the clerical leadership’s
defiant defence of a right to nuclear energy has proven one of
its more popular policies, said they were keen to talk further.
“We witnessed progress. There were differences of opinion,”
chief negotiator Jalili said. “But the points we agreed on were
important.” Asking for talks to include the lifting of sanctions
that have begun to add to widespread hardship in the energy-rich
nation, he said: “The next talks should be based on
confidence-building measures which would build the confidence of
Iranians.”
His defence of 20-percent enrichment did not impress the
United States or others who question the justification and say
that that level of enrichment makes a “break out” to
weapons-grade material much easier and could give Iran the
possibility, if it wanted, to build a nuclear bomb in a year or
two.
Referring to Iran’s rights under the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) on nuclear weapons, Jalili told a news conference:
“Enrichment of uranium is one of these rights that every
individual member state should benefit from and enjoy for
peaceful purposes.” Western governments argue Iran has broken
the NPT by conducting secret research on nuclear weapons.
While there was little new heard in Istanbul on the
substance of the disputes, the resumption of a process, which
its adversaries hope might let Iran’s leaders perform a
face-saving climbdown and also may stay Israel’s hand, was seen
by observers as favouring the chances of a peaceful outcome.
“Today’s round of P5+1 talks with Iran in Istanbul
established a positive foundation for progress on the nuclear
question. The talks exceeded initial expectations,” said Daryl
Kimball of the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based
research and advocacy group.
“The further high-level and technical talks announced today
are the logical next step to reach agreement on specific,
concrete steps that can help prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.”
WEST WANTS ACTION
Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain wanted peace:
“Today’s talks were a first step towards that objective, but
there is still a long way to go,” he said. “We now need
agreement on urgent, practical steps to build confidence around
the world that Iran will implement its international obligations
and does not intend to build a nuclear weapon.”
Echoing comments by other diplomats, a senior U.S. official
said the atmosphere had been positive but added: “Now we have to
get down to the hard work.
“The international community expects them to take action.”
As for Jalili’s request for relief from sanctions, the U.S.
official said Washington still expected a European Union oil
embargo take effect on July 1 and that other measures would
continue: “Dialogue is not sufficient for any sanctions relief.
One has to get to get to concrete actions that are significant.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who is leading the
Russian delegation, told Interfax news agency: “The atmosphere
is constructive, the conversation is businesslike.”
For supporters of sanctions, the change in approach from
Tehran, which began to discuss renewing negotiations late last
year, may be a vindication of the punishment imposed.
“Given that oil revenue accounts for over half of government
income, the budget will be under significant strain this year as
oil exports fall as a result of sanctions and oil production is
cut back by Iran as its pool of buyers begins to shrink,” said
Dubai-based independent analyst Mohammed Shakeel.
Western officials have made clear their immediate priority
is to persuade Tehran to cease the higher-grade uranium
enrichment it began in 2010. It has since expanded that work,
shortening the time it would need for any weapons “break-out”.
Iran has signalled some flexibility over limiting its
uranium enrichment to a fissile purity of 20 percent – compared
with the 5 percent level required for nuclear power plants – but
has suggested it is not ready to do so yet.
(Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch and Alexandra Hudson in
Istanbul, Zahra Hosseinian in Zurich, Marcus George in Dubai and
Maria Golovnina and Avril Ormsby in London; Writing by Alastair
Macdonald)
