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 Speaking to reporters after three days of negotiations, Ashton
said the two sides had identified the ingredients of an accord that
could put an end to years of hostility between the West and the oil
producing nation.
But she cautioned that future negotiations, which western
governments want to wrap up by late July, would not be easy.
"We have had three very productive days during which we have
identified all of the issues we need to address in reaching a
comprehensive and final agreement," she told reporters.
"There is a lot to do. It won't be easy but we have made a good
start."
Senior diplomats from the six powers — the United States, Russia,
China, France, Britain and Germany — as well as Iran's Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Ashton agreed to meet again on
March 17, also in the Austrian capital.
Although modest in scope, the agreement on an agenda for talks
indicates an early step forward in the elusive search for a
settlement in the nuclear dispute, which carries the risk of
enveloping the Middle East in a new war.
The sides remain far apart on how to resolve the dispute and both
Iran and the United States, a key player in the talks, have publicly
stated it may not be possible to reach a final agreement.
A senior U.S. State Department official said of Wednesday's second
day of talks: "Today's discussions, which covered both process and
substance, were constructive and useful." The six powers want a
long-term deal on the permissible scope of Iran's nuclear work to
lay to rest concerns that they could be put to developing atomic
bombs. Tehran's priority is a complete removal of damaging economic
sanctions against it.
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The powers have yet to spell out their precise demands of Iran. But
Western officials have signaled they want Tehran to cap enrichment
of uranium at a low fissile concentration, limit research and
development of new nuclear equipment, decommission a substantial
portion of its centrifuges used to refine uranium, and allow more
intrusive U.N. nuclear inspections.
Such steps, they believe, would help extend the time Iran would need
to make enough fissile material for a bomb and make such a move
easier to detect before it became a fait accompli. Tehran says its
program is peaceful and has no military aims.
Wide differences over expectations remain, however. Iran's Deputy
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was cited by Press TV on Tuesday as
saying Iran would not agree to dismantle its nuclear installations.
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau, Justyna Pawlak and
Fredrik Dahl; editing by Jon Boyle)
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