(ALMATY, Kazakhstan) — Six nations and Iran worked Friday to find common ground at negotiations that would satisfy both Tehran's demands for international recognition of its right to advanced nuclear technology and world concerns that the Islamic Republic wants to misuse that expertise to make atomic arms. The two sides parted in February after a previous meeting in the Kazakh city of Almaty with agreement to at least keep talking over a new proposal submitted by the six — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. But they remain vastly divided on what they want from each other. Iran wants an end to punishing sanctions crippling its economy. They were imposed to force it to end uranium enrichment, a process that can generate both nuclear energy and the core of nuclear weapons. Iran denies any interest in atomic arms, insists its enrichment program serves only peaceful needs, says it has a right to enrich under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and describes U.N. Security Council demands that it stop enrichment as illegal. "We are talking about peaceful nuclear energy," Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said before the two sides sat down Friday at one of the city's five-star hotels. He said Iran had a right to such a program and accused "a handful of countries" of working "to deny this right to others." The six have moved from demanding a total end to enrichment. As a first step, they now are asking Tehran only to stop production and stockpiling of uranium enriched to 20 percent, which is just a technical step away from weapons-grade uranium. A halt to production and stockpiling would keep Iran's supply below the amount needed for further processing into a weapon. (MORE: Iran's Agenda: Why Tehran Plays Hard to Get on Nuclear Diplomacy) Ahead of the meeting an EU official speaking for the six world powers said Friday the onus was on Iran to engage on the six-nation offer, which foresees a lifting of some sanctions but keeps penalties crippling Iran's oil sales and(http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&blog=19871253&post=79919&subd=timeglobalspin&ref=&feed=1)
Via: TIME GlobalSpin