Iran nuclear talks end with no progress

Two days of meetings in Turkey between six countries and Iran about its nuclear programme ended Saturday with no progress, and no plans for more talks. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who was representing the six world powers taking part in the talks with Iran, said she was disappointed. Iran maintained its right to enrich uranium.

Reuters/Osman Orsal

"We had hoped to embark on a discussion of practical ways forward, and have made every effort to make that happen. I am disappointed to say that this has not been possible," Ashton told reporters on Saturday.

She spent two days in Istanbul, representing the so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany, in talks with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Ashton said progress was blocked by Iran’s "pre-conditions relating to enrichment and sanctions".

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Jalili said Iran, as a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, has a right to enrich uranium to any degree it likes.

Ashton said no new talks were planned, but that the powers are committed to a diplomatic solution, and “the choice remains in Iran’s hands” on moving forward.

"Our proposals remain on the table and... we are ready to start talking without preconditions the moment Iran is ready," she said.

02:45

Correspondent Jasper Mortimer in Istanbul

Rosslyn Hyams

“What we get down to here is a question of trust,” said correspondent Jasper Mortimer. “Basically it’s a fact that the world does not trust Iran to use nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.”

The meeting in Istanbul was the second between Iran and the powers after talks resumed last month in Geneva after a 14-month break in diplomatic efforts to address the issue.

“Said Jalili said it was important that the talks too place in Istanbul, which he called a cradle of Islamic civilisation,” Mortimer said, adding that Turkey would like to continue to act as a mediator between the parties, but that the US likely would not agree.

“We know that when this round of talks was first proposed in the later half of last year, Iran wanted Turkey to be the venue for the first round of negotiations, but America was dead against that,” he said.

“It is thought that the Americans see the Turks as not perfectly neutral on this issue. The Turkish Prime Minister has on a number of occasions said that Iran is not trying to make an atomic bomb, and I’m not sure that America would agree to Turkey being an honest broker.”

Mortimer says that now that the talks have failed, Iran will likely continue enriching uranium “at a higher level than the world would like to see” and that the world is likely to impose further sanctions.

“Catherine Ashton didn’t mention this. She said she was now leaving Iran to reflect. However, one can quite easily imagine that could be the next step,” he said.