How Iran Talks Were Saved From Verge of Collapse
New details on the Iran nuclear talks this weekend, touted as being very positive, now show the meeting, in fact, deteriorated. Laura Rozen spoke to inside sources who said Iran was "relentless" in its request to delay European sanctions and that the atmosphere had grown extremely strained and tense.
New details on the Iran nuclear talks in Istanbul this weekend, which were largely touted as "positive," now show the meeting had, in fact, deteriorated.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili kicked off the first international nuclear talks in over a year with a three-hour dinner at the Iranian consulate in Istanbul Friday night. The mood at the informal dinner — meant to build rapport between the two chief negotiators ahead of the formal talks getting underway the next day — was described by aides as “good and friendly.” Conversation deliberately steered away from specific discussion of the Iran nuclear issue. A European diplomat apprised of the conversation told me Monday that they discussed political-party funding in the US among other topics, including the Arab spring.
