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 The meeting, which began on Tuesday, aims to set out a broad
agenda for talks that could in time produce an agreement on the
permissible scope of Iran's nuclear activities and lay to rest
Western concerns about their possible military dimension.
The negotiations, likely to extend over several months, could help
defuse years of hostility between energy-exporting Iran and the
West, ease the danger of a new war in the Middle East, transform the
regional power balance and open up major business opportunities for
Western firms.
Western diplomats said Tuesday's talks were "productive" and
"substantive" but had led to no immediate agreements.
"The focus on was the parameters and the process of negotiations,
the timetable of what is going to be a medium- to long-term
process," one European diplomat said. "We don't expect instant
results."
On Wednesday a morning session was chaired by a senior EU diplomat,
Helga Schmid, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi,
accompanied by senior diplomats from the six powers — the United
States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany. It was unclear
whether talks would continue into Thursday.
Araqchi was cited by Iran's English-language Press TV state
television on Tuesday saying that dismantling of the country's
nuclear facilities would not be part of the negotiating agenda,
highlighting a key sticking point in the talks.
The six powers — the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain
and Germany — have yet to spell out their precise demands. But
Western officials have made clear they want Iran to cap its
enrichment of uranium to low fissile purity, limit research and
development of new installations and decommission a substantial
portion of its centrifuges used to enrich uranium.
Such steps, they believe, would help extend the time that Iran would
need to produce enough fissile material for a bomb.
LENGTHY PROCESS AHEAD
During a decade of on-and-off dialogue with world powers, Iran has
rejected their allegations that it is seeking a nuclear weapons
capability. It says it is enriching uranium only for electricity
generation and medical purposes.
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As part of a final deal, Iran expects the United States, the
European Union and the United Nations to lift painful economic
sanctions, but western governments will be wary of giving up their
leverage too soon.
Ahead of the talks, a senior U.S. official said getting to a deal
would be a "complicated, difficult and lengthy process".
"When the stakes are this high, and the devil is truly in the
details, one has to take the time required to ensure the confidence
of the international community in the result," the official said.
"That can't be done in a day, a week, or even a month in this
situation."
On the eve of the talks both sides played down expectations, with
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying he was not
optimistic.
The six powers hope to get a deal done by late July, when an interim
accord struck in November expires.
That agreement, made possible by the election of relative moderate
President Hassan Rouhani on a platform of ending Iran's
international isolation, obliged Tehran to suspend its most
sensitive atom work in return for some relief from economic
sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, also quoted by Press
TV on Tuesday, sounded an optimistic note:
"It is really possible to make an agreement because of a simple
overriding fact and that is that we have no other option".
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Louis Charbonneau in
Vienna; editing by Jon Boyle)
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