Ashton returns home for further consultations on Iran's nuclear case

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who presides over the delegations of the six world powers in talks with Iran, said she and other Group 5+1 negotiators will return to their capitals for further consultations, adding that she would contact Iran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalili in near future.Speaking to reporters after two days of talks with Iranian negotiators, Ashton said during the four rounds of talks on Friday and Saturday, the representatives of the six world powers (the US, Britain, China, Russia and France plus Germany) and the Iranian team discussed concerns of the international community about Iran's nuclear program."Our talks over the confidence-bulding plan that we have recently presented to Iran were lengthy and intensive," Ashton said.She said the Iranian and the world powers' offers were different from each other in nature, "thus, we will return to our capitals for consultations and I will then contact Mr. Jalili".Iran and the six world powers wrapped up their 4th round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan, this afternoon after they agreed to continue the negotiations through their deputy chief negotiators.During the session the European members of the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) requested that Iran's deputy chief negotiator Ali Baqeri and his counterpart Helga Schmidt continue the negotiations in a fifth round.The Iranian team was led by Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili and the G5+1's representatives were presided by Ashton.Iran had announced a day prior to the start of the talks that it would enter the negotiations with the G5+1 with clear, groundbreaking proposals.Political observers believe that the West has remained at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for the other third-world countries. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plants.Iran has so far ruled out halting or limiting its nuclear work in exchange for trade and other incentives, saying that renouncing its rights under the NPT would encourage the world powers to put further pressure on the country and would not lead to a change in the West's hardline stance on Tehran.Iran is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment. The United States and the European Union have ratcheted up their sanctions on Iran this year to force it to curb its nuclear program.Iranian officials have always shrugged off the sanctions, saying that pressures make them strong and reinvigorate their resolve to further move towards self-sufficiency.