Published January 13, 2015
Senior Iranian and European Union negotiators held five hours of talks Wednesday on Tehran's disputed nuclear program amid suggestions the U.S. might be willing to defer seeking sanctions for a few weeks if a diplomatic resolution was in sight.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani went into their meeting at a Foreign Ministry facility by the side of Lake Tegel on the outskirts of Berlin without making statements to reporters.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was not participating in the talks, said he was optimistic progress could be made.
"I have the expectation that the talks today will be successful," Steinmeier said. "I think that today we will not get any final news, but hopefully in the course of tomorrow."
Solana would report back to the six countries trying to persuade Iran to give up its program to enrich uranium, he said, "and then it will be decided together if there are conditions for a return to the negotiating table."
The negotiators met for five hours of "very intense" talks before adjourning until Thursday, said Solana spokeswoman Cristina Gallach.
Germany has joined with the permanent U.N. Security Council members — the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain — in pressing Iran to give up what the U.S. says is a nuclear weapons program. Iran says its program is peaceful.
Enriched uranium can be used for power plants or for weapons, depending on the level of enrichment.
Solana and Larijani are holding the latest round of talks over a package of incentives the six countries are offering Tehran in return for suspending its uranium enrichment program and returning to full-scale negotiations.
Iran missed an Aug. 31 Security Council deadline over the issue. The six are considering seeking sanctions in the UN Security Council if Tehran does not comply.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington that she telephoned Solana on Wednesday and renewed U.S. support for his talks with Iran.
Rice said if Larijani agreed to a suspension of processing uranium "we would be on a course for negotiations."
But, Rice told reporters, she had told Solana "clearly this won't go on very much longer."
"I did wish Solana well, and we are all awaiting the outcome of these discussions," she said.
The Bush administration's sanctions strategy is to impose a series of increasingly potent penalties against Iran, beginning with curbs on technology that could be used in military programs.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/iran-european-union-break-very-intense-nuclear-talks-for-day