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World powers coax Iran into saving nuclear talks

Thursday - 2/28/2013, 4:24am  ET

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili listens to a question during a final news conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Negotiations with world powers over how to curb Iran's nuclear program have reached a "turning point" for the better after nearly breaking down last year, the Islamic republic's top official at diplomatic talks said Wednesday at the close of two days of delicate discussions aimed at preventing Tehran from building an atomic arsenal. (AP Photo/Pavel Mikheyev)

Associated Press

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) -- World powers offered broader concessions than ever to Iran in attempts Wednesday to keep alive diplomatic channels that seek to rein in the Islamic Republic's nuclear program and prevent it from building an atomic weapon.


The proposal allows Iran to keep a limited amount of highly enriched uranium -- but not make any more -- stops short of demanding the full shutdown of an underground nuclear facility, and offers to remove some trade sanctions that have hurt Iran's economy.


The latest offer marked a small but significant shift from earlier, harder-line proposals that prompted Iran to dig in its heels amid fears that an arms race in neighboring states could sow yet more instability in the already turbulent Mideast. Israel has repeatedly hinted its readiness to strike Iranian nuclear facilities -- a military venture the United States likely would be dragged into.

The new offer also is expected to force Iran to respond with a reasonable plan of its own -- or be seen as a recalcitrant negotiator unwilling to compromise.

The proposal "was more realistic than before and had tried to get closer to the Iranian viewpoint in some cases," Jalili told reporters at the end of two days of negotiations in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty. "We consider this positive -- although there is a long distance to reach the suitable point."





"Whatever we need, we will of course pursue that -- whether it is 5 percent or 20 percent," Jalili said. "It is important to us to have the 20 percent."

However, that remains a red line to negotiators from the world powers -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany -- who put their continued demand that Iran end any uranium enrichment that nears or reaches 20 percent at the heart of the new offer.

The senior U.S. official said Iran would be required to restrict its current stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium but, in a new development, would be allowed to keep enough to fuel a research reactor in Tehran. Also, Iran would have to suspend operations at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo -- and make it difficult to restart it quickly -- but would no longer be required to fully shut it down.


However, the hardest-hitting sanctions -- on Iran's oil and financial industries -- will remain in place during the negotiations, the official said. The tough sanctions have caused unemployment and inflation in Iran to skyrocket, while depressing its daily oil output and value of its currency, the rial.



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