Iran and world powers on Tuesday failed to narrow differences over the Iranian nuclear drive after bruising talks in Moscow held amid threats of a crippling oil embargo and even military action against Tehran.
However, the Iranian negotiating team and the world powers led by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton succeeded in keeping talks alive by agreeing a process for future meetings.
“It remains clear that there are significant gaps between the substance of the two positions,” Ashton told reporters in a late night news conference after nine hours of talks on the second and final day.
There had been “tough and frank” exchanges with the delegation led by chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, said Ashton, who represented the world powers known as “P5+1” — permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, plus Germany.
Ashton said the world powers reaffirmed their demands for Iran to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, ship out its existing stock of such material and shut down its heavily fortified Fordo enrichment facility.
“We expect Iran to decide whether it is willing to make diplomacy work, to focus on reaching agreement on concrete confidence-building steps and to address the concerns of the international community,” she said.
Jalili called the talks “more serious and more realistic” than the rounds held earlier this year in Istanbul and last month in Baghdad.
He also floated the possibility that the supply of nuclear fuel from abroad could form part of a deal in the future.
However, in an indication that Iran still wanted to enrich uranium to 20 percent, he said: “We insisted on the fact that the enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes to all levels is the right of the Islamic Republic.”
Jalili also warned that the wide scale oil export sanctions that the EU and the US are both set to impose against Iran risked derailing the negotiating process.
“If a path against this approach is started and certain actions disturb this approach, it will definitely affect the result of these talks,” he said.
“Any wrong move and any move not on this approach will definitely not be constructive, and will have an appropriate response,” he added.
However, a senior US administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity after the talks, said that there would be no softening of the sanctions against Tehran.
“I don’t think the differences have narrowed,” the official said.
“I think what is correct to interpret is that Iran has a choice to make. They have provided a lot of information — as have we — and they need to reflect on the choice they make,” he added.
France said after the talks that sanctions on Iran will be tightened unless Tehran negotiates seriously.
“Pressure should now increase on Iran with the EU fully applying from July 1 the oil embargo decided on in January,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement released in Paris. “The sanctions will continue to be tightened as long as Iran refuses to negotiate seriously.”
The final day negotiations were also marked by bilateral talks involving Iran and Russia, which apparently stepped in during the afternoon to ensure the negotiating process stayed on track.
Ashton said an expert-level meeting would take place on July 3 in Istanbul, followed by another meeting between the deputies of herself and Jalili.
A higher-level meeting involving herself and Jalili would follow at an unspecified later date and location, she added.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese