Iran, world powers ease stance in cordial summit on nuclear stalemate
Signs of progress on nuclear stalemate as surprisingly cordial summit concludes
Iran and world powers have concluded a surprisingly cordial summit in Kazakhstan that appears to have given a gentle nudge to the decade-long nuclear stalemate, experts say.
Two days of talks in the Tien Shan mountain city of Almaty concluded on Wednesday amid continued sabre-rattling from Israel and worry on world oil markets about the prospects of yet another Middle East war.
But Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France - plus Germany, did agree to hold new talks on Iran's disputed nuclear drive in the coming weeks.
Iran flatly denies charges that it is enriching uranium at an increasingly rapid pace in order to one day build a nuclear weapon. But Israel and its main ally the US have few doubts this is exactly the case.
The issue has been debated on three prior occasions in the past year alone. The last meeting between Iran and the leading powers, known as P5+1, ended in June without the sides able to agree to meet again.
Things went differently this time. The meeting saw the leading powers offer Iran a softening of non-oil or financial sector-related sanctions in exchange for concessions over its uranium enrichment operations.