End RW fear mongering in Israel, USA, and IRAN please...
14 April 2012 Last updated at 07:52 ET Share this pageFacebook Twitter Email Print Share this page
Iran nuclear talks 'positive' after 15-month break
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful Continue reading the main story
Iran nuclear crisis'Last chance' Iran talks to start
Analysis: How would Iran respond to attack?
Analysis: How Israel might strike at Iran
Q&A: Nuclear issue
Key talks on Iran's controversial nuclear programme, which have resumed after a 15-month impasse, have been described as "positive".
Six world powers - the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany - and Iran are meeting in Istanbul in Turkey.
Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful, but critics suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Israel has hinted in recent months that it could carry out a pre-emptive strike on Iran to prevent that happening.
Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said the talks were "totally different" from the last session 15 months ago.
"There is a positive atmosphere... contrasting with the last time," he said.
The BBC's James Reynolds, in Istanbul, says the envoys had earlier set the bar pretty low - saying they did not expect detailed, substantive proposals from either side.
What they want to see, he says, is whether Iran is ready to seriously engage and, if that happens, there may be another round of talks in four to six weeks time.
'Renewing confidence'
The six world powers, known collectively as the P5+1, hope the talks will at least cool tensions.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The fact that Iran built an underground bunker in secret, then kept changing its stated purpose, worries Western observers”
End Quote
Mohsen Asgari and James Reynolds
BBC News
'Last chance' Iran talks to start After a two-and-a-half-hour morning session, Mr Mann said: "The principles for future talks seem to be there."
There will be another session in the afternoon.
Russia earlier warned both sides not to "overblow the differences" between them.
"We really need to find a middle course," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. "The negotiations are about renewing confidence."
US President Barack Obama has described this as a "last chance" for diplomacy to work, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran had to "demonstrate clearly in the actions they propose that they have truly abandoned any nuclear weapons ambition".
But one source close to the Iranian delegation earlier told Agence France-Presse: "So far the Iranian delegation finds the Western position ... disappointing and discouraging."
On Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country was "standing firm on its fundamental rights and under the harshest pressure will not retreat an iota from its undeniable right".
The P5+1 hope eventually to persuade Iran to reduce its enrichment of uranium and fully open up its nuclear facilities to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (left) welcomed Iran's chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili There are suggestions that the stringent sanctions on Iran could be reduced if it complies with the requests.
BBC News - Iran nuclear talks 'positive' after 15-month break
14 April 2012 Last updated at 07:52 ET Share this pageFacebook Twitter Email Print Share this page
Iran nuclear talks 'positive' after 15-month break
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful Continue reading the main story
Iran nuclear crisis'Last chance' Iran talks to start
Analysis: How would Iran respond to attack?
Analysis: How Israel might strike at Iran
Q&A: Nuclear issue
Key talks on Iran's controversial nuclear programme, which have resumed after a 15-month impasse, have been described as "positive".
Six world powers - the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany - and Iran are meeting in Istanbul in Turkey.
Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful, but critics suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Israel has hinted in recent months that it could carry out a pre-emptive strike on Iran to prevent that happening.
Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said the talks were "totally different" from the last session 15 months ago.
"There is a positive atmosphere... contrasting with the last time," he said.
The BBC's James Reynolds, in Istanbul, says the envoys had earlier set the bar pretty low - saying they did not expect detailed, substantive proposals from either side.
What they want to see, he says, is whether Iran is ready to seriously engage and, if that happens, there may be another round of talks in four to six weeks time.
'Renewing confidence'
The six world powers, known collectively as the P5+1, hope the talks will at least cool tensions.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The fact that Iran built an underground bunker in secret, then kept changing its stated purpose, worries Western observers”
End Quote
Mohsen Asgari and James Reynolds
BBC News
'Last chance' Iran talks to start After a two-and-a-half-hour morning session, Mr Mann said: "The principles for future talks seem to be there."
There will be another session in the afternoon.
Russia earlier warned both sides not to "overblow the differences" between them.
"We really need to find a middle course," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. "The negotiations are about renewing confidence."
US President Barack Obama has described this as a "last chance" for diplomacy to work, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran had to "demonstrate clearly in the actions they propose that they have truly abandoned any nuclear weapons ambition".
But one source close to the Iranian delegation earlier told Agence France-Presse: "So far the Iranian delegation finds the Western position ... disappointing and discouraging."
On Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country was "standing firm on its fundamental rights and under the harshest pressure will not retreat an iota from its undeniable right".
The P5+1 hope eventually to persuade Iran to reduce its enrichment of uranium and fully open up its nuclear facilities to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (left) welcomed Iran's chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili There are suggestions that the stringent sanctions on Iran could be reduced if it complies with the requests.
BBC News - Iran nuclear talks 'positive' after 15-month break
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