Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Nuclear negotiations with Iran again failed after separate talks between Tehran and IAEA and six world powers took place on May 15.

The two sets of talks represent distinct diplomatic tracks but are linked because both center on suspicions that Iran may be seeking the capability to assemble nuclear bombs behind the facade of a declared civilian atomic energy program.

The IAEA has been trying for more than a year to coax Iran into letting it resume an inquiry into what the U.N. watchdog calls the "possible military dimensions" of its nuclear work.

However, Iran and international nuclear inspectors failed to reach agreement on starting a probe into Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme, a senior International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) official said Wednesday after talks between the two sides, dpa reported.

IAEA chief nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts said they had intensive discussions, but did not finalize the structured approach document that has been under negotiation for a year and a half now.

"Our commitment to continue dialogue is unwavering. We must recognize that our best efforts have not been successful so far. So we will continue to try and complete this process," he said in Vienna after the tenth round of negotiations since early 2012.

Iran's IAEA envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh said the discussions on an agreement that would allow access to Iranian nuclear sites, documents and officials were "constructive and intensive."

He added that "the aim of all these elaborations is to bridge the gap towards the conclusion of the text by the next meeting."

Nackaerts and Soltanieh said they wanted talks to continue, but no date for a new round was agreed.

While Iranian nuclear officials talked in Vienna, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili was in Istanbul to meet EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to prepare the ground for the next full round of talks with the permanent UN Security Council members China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany.

Ashton called it a "useful discussion" but the two diplomats did not set out plans for a new round of negotiations.

"We talked about the proposals we had put forward and we will now reflect on how to go on to the next stage of the process. We will be in touch shortly," she said.

Iran would not change its nuclear stance after the June presidential election, Jalili warned the so-called P5+1 group ahead of his evening meeting with Ashton.

The nuclear programme is a national matter and, therefore, stands above party politics, Jalili said, stressing that his country has the right to use civilian nuclear technology.

He also said before the talks that Iran's proposals for the settlement of its international nuclear row include a number of 'special offers'.

Jalili noted that its special offers are rooted in the norms of international law designed to protect the sovereign rights of Iran, but did not mention what exactly the offer said.

He said that it has been 40 days and the group of six has not yet responded to Tehran's proposals made at a meeting in Almaty in early April. According to him, initially Iran was expecting a reply within several days. Iran is now waiting for the final answer of the group of six, without prior hypotheses.

The group of six has been trying to pressure Tehran to stop enriching uranium, fearing that this know-how might be used to make nuclear weapons fuel. Iran says it is making reactor fuel, not nuclear arms.

Meanwhile, U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman said at the Senate Wednesday that the P5+1 were still waiting for signs that Tehran would seriously address a new offer of easing of some sanctions in return for an enrichment stop, which was presented at talks in Almaty in February.

"We are not interested in talks for talks' sake, but we must give diplomacy every chance to succeed," she told the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.

She also said the U.S. expected the nuclear agency to eventually urge the U.N. Security Council, which has imposed several sanctions resolutions on Iran, to take more action.

Neither the IAEA nor the six-country group have made progress in negotiations with Iran this or last year. Diplomats had said they had not expected progress this week.

They also noted that Jalili is a presidential candidate and was unlikely to continue in his current role after the June 14 election.

Besides, analysts and diplomats say any movement in the decade-old standoff will probably have to wait until after Iranians vote on June 14 for a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In Almaty, in April, the six powers had asked Tehran to suspend its most sensitive nuclear work in return for some relief in economic sanctions.

Tehran had said the offer was not enough. It reiterated its calls that they recognize its "right" to refine uranium - which can have both civilian and military purposes - and end oil and financial sanctions.