EU officials say talks between Western powers along with Russia and China, and Iran over the latter's nuclear program have started in a "positive atmosphere." But general expectations are low.
Six world powers positively began their first talks with Iran in 15 months in Istanbul on Saturday, according to an EU spokesperson.
"There is a positive atmosphere. ... There is a desire for substantive progress," Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said to reporters.
"There is no disagreement yet," said Mann, describing the atmosphere as "good and friendly."
The talks are taking place with a view to ending the current stalemate over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons drive. Diplomats from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany will attend, athough expectations of what will be achieved are modest.
"Iran's most recent response specifically said that they are prepared to sit down and talk about the nuclear issue. For us [Saturday] is about testing that," said one envoy said in advance of the talks.
"We don't expect to get a lot of detail ... but it will be about possibly meeting again in four to six weeks time if we can, when we will get into that detail."
Iran's developing capabilities in terms of uranium enrichment which, although currently deployed for power generation and other peaceful purposes, could, in a purer form, also be used to make nuclear weapons. This is a growing worry for other nations.
In particular, countries are anxious about activity in the formerly covert Fordo site, nestled in a mountain bunker close to the holy city of Qom. The site is currently enriching to 20 percent purity, but this could reach as much as 90 percent, according to experts, enough to create nuclear weapons.
Questions over Fordo and a UN atomic agency report last November on alleged “weaponization” efforts have led to tougher EU and US sanctions on Iran and threats of military action from Israel.
The West's strongest hand is the threat of sanctions and this is likely to be central to diplomatic strategy at the meeting. In turn, Tehran may dangle the possibility of it suspending its high-level uranium enrichment to appease its critics.
sej/gb (AFP, AP)
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