Iran, 5+1 agree to more technical talks; Russia, China say ‘certain progress’ made

TEHRAN,July 7(MNA) - Iran and the six major powers agreed to continue technical talks over Tehran’s nuclear program as Russia and China say ‘certain progress’ was made during the talks. The agreement was made during an expert meeting between Tehran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany), which began in Istanbul on Tuesday and stretched into early Wednesday. Such technical talks are meant to pave the way for a higher-level meeting between negotiators from both sides. A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who leads diplomatic efforts on behalf of word powers, said that senior EU and Iranian negotiators would hold follow-up talks. “In Istanbul… experts explored positions on a number of technical subjects,” Michael Mann said in a statement. No date was yet set for the next round of expert meetings. Russia, China say ‘certain progress’ made at expert meeting Russia on Wednesday said that “certain progress” had been reached at the expert-level talks. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow was satisfied with the outcome despite the broad disagreements that remained. “I cannot say that we reached some sort of breakthrough or achieved decisive progress,” Russia’s chief negotiator on the standoff told Interfax. “But we are not losing heart or think that the Istanbul meeting of experts was a failure,” Ryabkov added. “On the contrary, there are grounds to speak of certain progress,” he stated. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Thursday, “The countries discussed Iran’s nuclear program earnestly and made certain progress,” Xinhua reported. “However, it is not unusual to see that a great deal of disagreement still remains, considering the complexity of the issue,” he added. According to Reuters, one Western diplomat said on Wednesday that the two sides made some progress in bridging differences over various issues. “The meeting was intended to get more clarity about each other’s positions. I think that worked well,” the diplomat stated. “In the late hours, a real discussion in a form of questions and answers developed. Our task was not to bring positions any closer but to better understand it.” Another Western diplomat cited Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asghar Soltanieh, who was present at the meeting, as saying, “I now understand the other side’s position better,” AP reported on Thursday.