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EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and Saeed Jalili, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in AlmatyWorld powers began their 4th round of high-level talks with Iranian officials in Almaty on Tuesday as negotiators from both sides pledged to offer new ways to break a years-long impasse over Tehran's nuclear program and its feared ability to make atomic weapons in the future.
Few believe the latest attempt to reach compromise will yield any major breakthroughs, and negotiators refused to detail what the new solutions might be. Instead, officials described the latest diplomatic discussions as a way to build confidence with Iran as it steadfastly maintains its right to enrich uranium in the face of harsh international sanctions.
"The offer addresses the international concern on the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program, but it is also responsive to Iranian ideas," said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is leading the negotiations. "We've put some proposals forward which will hopefully allow Iran to show some flexibility."
Mahmoud Mohammedi, a member of the Iranian delegation, said Tehran also is prepared to make an offer of its own to end the impasse, but refused to provide any details.
The Obama administration is pushing for diplomacy to solve the impasse but has not ruled out the possibility of military intervention in Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Israel has threatened it will use all means to stop Iran from being able to build a bomb, potentially as soon as this summer, raising the specter of a possible Mideast war.
A senior U.S. official at the talks said Monday that some sanctions relief would be part of the offer to Iran but also refused to detail it. The new relief is part of a package the U.S. official said included "substantive changes -- whether you'd call them super-substantial, I'll leave to history."
The official acknowledged reports earlier this month that sanctions would be eased to allow Iran's gold trade to progress, but would neither confirm nor deny they are included in the new relief offer, and spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic talks more candidly.
In a statement before the talks began Tuesday afternoon, Interfax news agency cited Russia's envoy as saying easing of sanctions is possible only if Iran can assure the world that its nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.
"There is no certainty that the Iranian nuclear program lacks a military dimension, although there is also no evidence that there is a military dimension," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
Officials from both sides have set low expectations for a breakthrough in Almaty -- the first time the high-level negotiators have met since last June's meeting in Moscow that threatened to derail the delicate efforts.
The talks are being held in private at a hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, and were deemed so sensitive that reporters were not allowed on the premises Tuesday save, for a small handful of TV cameras and photographers allowed to watch Ashton, who is leading the negotiations, greet Saeed Jalili, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
Tehran maintains it is enriching uranium only to make reactor fuel and medical isotopes, and insists it has a right to do so under international law. It has signaled it does not intend to stop, and U.N. nuclear inspectors last week confirmed Iran has begun a major upgrade of its program at the country's main uranium enrichment site.
Iran has been unimpressed with earlier offers by the powers to provide it with medical isotopes and lift sanctions on spare parts for civilian airliners, and new bargaining chips that Tehran sees as minor are likely to be snubbed as well. Iran insists, as a starting point, that world powers must recognize the republic's right to enrich uranium.