Ali Bagheri, the Deputy Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of National Security, told a press conference at the end of the first day of talks between Iran and the world powers that Iran has presented the G5+1 delegation with a proposal package, and they have asked for time to consider it until tomorrow’s meeting.
Bagheri told reporters that Iran described its proposals in detail to the G5+1 delegation today.
The Fars News Agency quotes Bagheri saying that the framework of a five-point proposal, which was introduced in Baghdad, was discussed in further detail in Moscow.
The talks will continue in Moscow tomorrow.
Michael Mann, the spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said the exchange of views was “intense and tough”, while the Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted a diplomat saying the two sides have “failed to reach any agreement.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov told the Interfax news wire: “The main obstacle is that the positions of the sides are hard to reconcile.”
The EU has stressed that there will be no reconsideration of the oil embargo against Iran that is to take effect on July 1.
Mann has been quoted as saying in Moscow that the sanctions will take effect on July 1 as scheduled “because nothing has changed on the ground.”
The world powers are reportedly calling on Iran to stop enriching uranium to the 20-percent level and also to halt production at the Fordo plant. They are also calling for access to the Parchin Military Base by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
