World powers and Iran failed again to ease their decade-old dispute over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program in talks that ended on Saturday, prolonging a stand-off that risks spiraling into a new Middle East war.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The lack of a breakthrough in the two-day meeting in Kazakhstan aimed at easing international concern over Iran’s contested nuclear activity marked a further setback for diplomatic efforts to resolve the row peacefully.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It is also likely to strengthen suspicions in Israel – which threatens air strikes, if necessary, to stop its arch-enemy from getting the bomb – that Iran is using diplomacy as a stalling tactic.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n “Over two days of talks, we had long and intensive discussions,” European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n “It became clear that our positions remain far apart,” Ashton, who represents the six powers – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – in dealings with Iran, told a news conference.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Underlining the lack of substantial progress during the negotiations in the Kazakh commercial center of Almaty – the second meeting there this year – no new talks between the two sides were scheduled.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n But a senior U.S. official said there had been no breakdown in the negotiations with Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n “There was no breakthrough but also no breakdown,” the official, who declined to be identified, said. “Our intention is to proceed,” he said, referring to a U.S. commitment to further diplomatic efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili acknowledged differences between the two sides.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n “We proposed our plan of action and the other party was not ready and they asked for some time to study the idea,” he told a separate news conference.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Russia’s negotiator sounded more upbeat, saying the talks were a “step forward” although no compromise had been reached.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n “Certainly, these talks were a step forward,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. But he added that it was premature to name a date and venue for further talks.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Iran’s critics accuse it of covertly seeking the means to produce nuclear bombs. Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, sees Iran’s nuclear program as a potential threat to its existence.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Iran says its nuclear energy program is entirely peaceful but U.N. inspectors suspect it has worked illicitly on designing a nuclear weapon.<\/span><\/p>\n With all sides aware that a breakdown in diplomacy could shunt the protracted stalemate a step closer to war, no one in Almaty was talking about abandoning diplomatic efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Ashton said that for the first time there had been a “real back and forth between us when were able to discuss details, to pose questions, and to get answers directly … To that extent, that has been a very important element”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n But, she added: “What matters in the end is substance.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n With a presidential election due in Iran in June, scope for a breakthrough was slim in Almaty. Iran declined to accept or reject an offer of modest relief from economic sanctions in exchange for curbing its most sensitive nuclear activity.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n “I do not think the risk of war has substantially increased,” said Shashank Joshi, a senior fellow and Middle East specialist at the Royal United Services Institute,<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n “The priority for both sides is to keep the diplomatic track alive until after the Iranian presidential elections.”<\/span><\/p>\nKEEP DIPLOMACY ALIVE<\/h2>\n