The first round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan between Iran and the world powers wound down on Tuesday evening and reportedly will continue tomorrow.
The Genram News Agency reported that the spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: “We have prepared a good and updated offer for the talks, which we believe is balanced and a fair basis for constructive talks.”
He added: "The offer addresses international concerns… on the nature of the Iranian nuclear programme, but is also responsive to Iranian ideas. We hope that Iran will seize this opportunity and come to the talks with flexibility and commitment to make concrete progress towards a confidence-building step."
Meanwhile, the Fars News agency quoted a member of the Iranian delegation saying: “Our proposal contains a range of options, each tied to the kind of proposals we are given by the other party… in any case, Iran will have new proposals.”
The unidentified delegate states that Iran’s aim is to see “if the West is truly concerned with our nuclear program or it is using it as a tool for extortion.”
Reports indicate that the main proposal of the G5+1 party is linked to easing sanctions on banks and precious metals in exchange for Iran suspending its uranium enrichment at the 20-percent level.
Iran says 20-percent uranium enrichment is within its rights according to NPT provisions and it insists that it is aimed at the peaceful objective of providing fuel for its research reactor and producing urgently needed medical radio isotopes.
