BAGHDAD (AFP/Reuters) – World powers and Iran have “not yet sufficient” grounds for an accord permitting another round of talks after the current round in Baghdad, an Iranian official said late on Wednesday as negotiations looked set to enter a second day.
“The points of agreement are not yet sufficient for another round,” the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the world powers had to “revise” a package of proposals made earlier on Wednesday.
“We believe that the two parties must agree on common points to merit a new round of negotiations. The necessary foundation needs to be built. Common points must be agreed in Baghdad.”
Iran made a counter-proposal to the P5+1 group of world powers. “Iran proposed a package with five items based on the principles of step-by-step and reciprocity, and we are waiting for the reaction of the P5+1 during meetings this afternoon,” an Iranian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity and without elaborating on the offer.
“We said to the other side that we need a comprehensive approach. We need the steps that both sides have to take to be clearly defined and there is no possibility of going back on them,” the official said.
“For example, that they lift sanctions that they cannot then readopt two months later under a different pretext.” The Iranian counter-proposal came after EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton presented a package of new incentives on behalf of the P5+1 - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany.
Iranian state media ran reports slamming the P5+1 package, with the IRNA news agency calling it “outdated, not comprehensive, and unbalanced.”
State media, including the Islamic Republic News Agency, all called the proposal made to Iranian officials in talks in Baghdad “outdated, not comprehensive and unbalanced.” Ashton’s spokesman gave no details on what the incentives included but reports said they fell short of meeting Iran’s key demand for an easing of the sanctions piled on the country in recent years - more are due on July 1.
Instead the P5+1 were offering to pledge not to impose any new sanctions, as well as sweeteners including easing Iranian access to aircraft parts and a possible suspension of an EU insurance ban on ships carrying Iranian oil.
It also reportedly included a revival of previous attempts to get Iran to ship abroad its stockpiles of enriched uranium in return for fuel for a reactor producing medical isotopes.
Iran says that a lack of fuel plates for this reactor was the reason it started in 2010 to enrich uranium to purities of 20 per cent, a capability that reduces the theoretical “breakout” time needed to get the bomb.
Meanwhile, British government ministers are discussing what role the country could play in a possible military confrontation in the Middle East over Iran’s nuclear programme, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Ministers are considering whether any involvement from Britain would be legal if talks with Iran break down and Israel bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities. Such a move risks starting a wider war in the region and a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil-shipping sea lane, the report said.
Britain is examining a number of options, from diplomatic support for Israel to the involvement of Britain’s Royal Navy in the region, according to the BBC.
Britain’s Foreign Office was not immediately available for comment.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Wednesday that Iran was ready to hold serious talks on its nuclear programme that could lead to a gradual lifting of sanctions in exchange for broader transparency from Tehran.
“We have a clear understanding... that Iran is ready to agree on concrete actions,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters, without elaborating.
Lavrov spoke as world powers were due to hold talks with Iranian officials in Baghdad aimed at reaching a breakthrough in the long-running nuclear crisis.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak urged world powers not to waver in Wednesday’s key talks with Iran, warning that any failure to halt enrichment would see Tehran obtain a nuclear weapon.
“In Baghdad, we must watch out that partial concessions do not allow Iran to avoid a tightening of sanctions,” he said.
“Without strengthening the current painful sanctions, Iran will continue towards a nuclear capability,” the defence minister told Israel’s public radio.