BAGHDAD - Talks between Iran and six world powers about its disputed nuclear program failed to produce a breakthrough Thursday in what appeared to be a disappointment to the Iranian side, which had hoped for an easing of the onerous economic sanctions imposed by the West.
But both sides sought to frame the two days of difficult negotiations in a positive way, asserting that they had greater understanding of each other's positions and agreeing to reconvene in Moscow on June 18 and 19. That will be the third such meeting since the talks resumed in Istanbul in April after a 15-month lapse and could be the last before tougher sanctions are scheduled to take effect on Iran's oil industry, the country's economic lifeline.
"What we have now is some common ground and a meeting in place where we can take that further forward," said Catherine Ashton, the European Union's top foreign policy official and the lead negotiator for the six powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. Still, she told reporters at a news conference in Baghdad, "significant problems remain."
The chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, described the talks as positive. But he suggested that the main obstacle to progress was the other side's refusal to accept Iran's claimed right to enrich its own nuclear fuel, which it has continued to do despite four U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding a suspension.
"This is our right, and it is clearly irrefutable," Jalili said. If the six powers accepted such a right, he said, "we will of course welcome some offer to cooperate on."
Iranian hopes dashed
There had been some Iranian expectations going into the Baghdad talks that the United States was prepared to soften its position on uranium enrichment by acknowledging Iran was entitled to process uranium to 3.5 percent purity under international supervision for use in civilian reactors. In return, the Iranians had raised the possibility of freezing their enrichment of uranium to a level of 20 percent purity. That is a short technical step away from uranium enriched to 90 percent purity, which can be weaponized, and it is a major reason for suspicions that Iran is seeking the capability to build a nuclear weapon.
But the position of all six powers -- that Iran suspend all its uranium enrichment as the Security Council has demanded -- remained the same at the Baghdad talks.
A senior U.S. official said that the six powers had never expected to reach an agreement with Iran at this stage of the process and that the sanctions coming into force July 1, notably the European Union embargo on Iranian oil, would "increase the leverage on this negotiation as we move forward. Maximum pressure is not yet being felt by Iran."
Proposals exchanged
During the Baghdad talks, the six powers exchanged detailed proposals with the Iranian side, which presented what Iranian news reports described as a five-point plan containing nuclear and nonnuclear elements. Besides eased sanctions and an acknowledgment of Iran's right to enrich uranium, Jalili said the proposal included cooperation on areas of mutual interest such as battling drug traffickers and Somali piracy off the Horn of Africa.
Whatever expectations there may have been for substantive progress at the Baghdad talks, they appeared to fade as the second day of discussions began early Thursday, when Iran's state-financed Press TV quoted unidentified sources close to the Iranian negotiating team as saying the prospects for success in the negotiations were "vague and under question" if the powers rejected the Iranian plan.
The most important part of the six-power proposal called for stopping enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, removing it from the country and closing a highly fortified enrichment facility, called Fordo, built under a mountain that has further raised Western suspicions about Iran's nuclear intentions. Iran says it is stockpiling 20 percent enriched uranium for use in medical reactors and has disputed Western assertions that the supply far exceeds what the Iranians need.
Removing the 20 percent uranium stockpile from Iranian control is an issue that preoccupies Israel and other U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia.
Israel has warned that it might attack Iran militarily if the Iranians appear to be nearing completion of a nuclear weapon or continue to produce 20 percent enriched uranium in protected sites.
In return for early Iranian steps toward its goals, the six offered benefits such as spare parts for civilian aircraft and perhaps a pledge that Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear program so long as it resolves doubts about its intentions.
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