ISTANBUL — A long day of talks between Iran and six world powers ended with little progress beyond agreement to meet again today, amid stiff resistance by Tehran to demands for discussion of its nuclear activities that could be used to make weapons.
Tehran denies that it wants nuclear arms, insisting it wants only to make peaceful nuclear energy for its rising population.
But concerns have grown because its uranium-enrichment program also could make fissile warhead material, because of its nuclear secrecy and also because the Islamic Republic refuses to cooperate with U.N. attempts to investigate suspicions that it ran experiments related to making nuclear weapons.
While the six powers want the two days of talks focused on freezing Iran’s uranium-enrichment program, Iran has repeatedly said this activity is not up for discussion. Instead, Iranian officials are pushing an agenda that covers just about everything except its nuclear program: global disarmament, Israel’s suspected nuclear arsenal, and Tehran’s concerns about American military bases in Iraq and elsewhere.
The length of negotiations Friday reflected the divide between the two sides, with talks lasting for nearly 14 hours before, a diplomat familiar with the talks said, they recessed for the night.
“We would like to see a meaningful and practical negotiation process emerge with Iran’s nuclear program as a core focus,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley in Washington. “And, as we have consistently made clear, these meetings are an opportunity for Iran to come forward and address matters that are of great concern to the international community, primarily its nuclear program.”
