Distrust marks Iran nuclear standoff but dialog takes hold ANALYSIS 12/10/2010

Distrust marks Iran nuclear standoff but dialog takes hold

ANALYSIS

12/10/2010

GENEVA — The talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear program, which resumed this week after a tense 14-month break, have failed to dissipate deep distrust between world powers and Tehran, analysts and diplomats said.

But the two-day talks between Iran and the European Union with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, which ended on Tuesday with an agreement to meet again in Istanbul in late January, marked the beginning of a new phase of dialog, they told AFP.

“We didn’t move forward one iota, but the positive thing, relatively speaking, is that a rendezvous was arranged in Turkey; that was Iran’s request before they even came to Geneva,” said Mohammad-Reza Djalili, a professor at the city’s Graduate Institute.

The world powers spearheaded by the EU’s top diplomat Catherine Ashton had originally baulked at Tehran’s request to hold talks on Monday and Tuesday in Turkey, successfully proposing the western Swiss city, their traditional meeting place, instead.

But after the two-day talks, a senior US administration official “welcomed” the fact that Iran’s neighbor would host the next encounter.

“We never expected major progress from this one meeting. This is a start,” he said.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101210com3.html