Iran Nuclear Talks To Have Russian Sequel This Month

After an inconclusive but encouraging round of talks in Baghdad, attendees of the P5+1 meeting have revealed that another round of dialogue will continue in Moscow this month. The tentative date is June 18.

As for the recent P5+1 event, the expected rhetoric from the parties involved appeared to be muted. Tangible results, however, are nil with Iran’s representative Saeed Jalili simply reiterating his country’s right to peaceful nuclear energy at a post-summit press conference. This was announced on May 24.

The historic summit itself transpired on the day previous, May 23. As the venue for the much-hyped P5+1 talks, Baghdad’s Green Zone needed 15,000 soldiers and police to secure the meeting.

Attending were representatives of the US, Russia, Britain, France, China—the UN Security Council—and Germany. (The latter are the ‘+1’) Discussion officially began in the afternoon after the lunch hour.

Presiding over the meeting was EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Her counterpart was Iran’s specially designated chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Details that have surfaced in the weeks since the latest P5+1 indicate that little traction was achieved. In the course of the closed door meeting a set of compromises were exchanged that proved unsatisfactory for those present.

This lack of rapport failed to disrupt the meeting, which carried on to an uneventful end, though its vague outcome may have Israel worried. There is a general consensus that Israel is already willing to launch an attack on Iran within months if its enrichment program is not curbed.