Iran’s nuclear response puzzling, say world powers

A Western diplomat said Iran had failed to deliver "a clear and concrete response" to the offer on the table from the group and instead offered a "reworking" of proposals it made last year at talks that broke up in disagreement.
The diplomat said the move was puzzling for the six nations - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - that sought a concrete response from Iran to their February offer to ease sanctions if it stops its most sensitive nuclear work.

Iranian negotiators said they had outlined their own "specific" proposals, but a Western diplomat said they had still not responded clearly to the initiative from the big powers.
The dissonant views suggested the two sides had not narrowed differences that have bededvilled a decade of on-off talks.

The powers are seeking answers at the talks about a nuclear program that Iran insists is peaceful but world powers fear may hide some military dimensions.

The onus is now on Iran to accept a series of demands that include curbing enrichment activities in exchange for concessions that would ease UN sanctions that have choked the Iranian economy and seen its currency's value plummet. Western officials said the Iranian plan was just a rehash of old ideas that had already been cast aside at a meeting last year in Moscow.

"There has not yet been a clear and concrete response to the E3+3 Almaty I proposal" that the powers made at the last nuclear negotiations at the same venue in February, a Western official said in a statement to AFP also backed by a second source.

"Their presentation was pretty much a repetition of what they put forward in Moscow. There were some not fully explained general comments on our ideas," said the official on condition of anonymity.
The day's second plenary session began at 1045 GMT with Western officials saying they hoped to achieve more progress this time around.

The last meeting at the same venue in February ended with unusual expressions of cautious optimism from both sides. Iran described those negotiations as "positive" while the world powers more cooly called them "useful."
Iran's chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said in a speech at Almaty University on the eve of the latest talks that their success hinged on "acceptance of the rights of Iran, particularly the right to enrichment." He told the six powers, comprised of the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany and known collectively as the P5+1, that Iran demanded an immediate recognition of his country's right to enrich uranium.

The demand is inherently objectionable to the powers because Iran is prohibited from enriching uranium by the United Nations.

Source: ARAB NEWS