Iran nuclear talks start in Istanbul

Iran said differences were narrowing Friday at talks with six world powers looking for curbs on Tehran's ability to convert its nuclear program to making atomic arms, but others said it was too early to speak of progress.

"Compared to the Geneva talks, the negotiations in Istanbul are being held in a more positive way," Iranian delegate Abolfazl Zohrevand said, referring to talks in the Swiss city that ended last month with an agreement on nothing more than to meet again in Turkey.

"There are good signs that the two sides will make progress."

A diplomat familiar with the talks, however, said the two sides stated their positions and then broke for a meal. The diplomat asked for anonymity in exchange for commenting on the closed meeting.

China, Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany hope to nudge Iran toward acknowledging the need to reduce worries that it might turn its enrichment program to making weapons.

Tehran denies such aspirations, insisting it wants only to make nuclear fuel. But concerns have grown because its uranium enrichment program could also make fissile warhead material, because of its nuclear secrecy and also because the Islamic nation refuses to co-operate with attempts to investigate suspicions that it ran experiments related to making nuclear weapons.

While the six would like to kickstart talks focused at freezing Iran's uranium enrichment program, Tehran has repeatedly said this activity is not up for discussion. Instead, Iranian officials are pushing an agenda that covers just about everything except its nuclear program: global disarmament, Israel's suspected nuclear arsenal, and Tehran's concerns about U.S. military bases in Iraq and elsewhere.

"We want to discuss the fundamental problems of global politics at Istanbul talks," said Iran's chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested any push to restrict the meeting to Iran's nuclear program would fail.

Zohrevand told The Associated Press that compromise by Iran's negotiation partners was moving the talks forward.

"They didn't get what they had hoped to get from pressure and sanctions," he said. "They are showing some flexibility. This is helping both sides to be optimistic."

Tehran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to cease enrichment and other activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons, and Iran came to the table warning it was in no mood to compromise.

"Resolutions, sanctions, threats, computer virus nor even a military attack will stop uranium enrichment in Iran," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Iranian state TV.

But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Iranians must "show in these negotiations that they are prepared to discuss the whole of their nuclear program."

The diplomat said EU Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton, speaking on behalf of Iran's six interlocutors, would urge the Iranian side in her opening address to recognize the need to discuss international concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

Ashton, he said, would renew a 2008 offer providing Iran technical and logistical support for peaceful nuclear activities as well as trade and other incentives in exchange for its willingness to focus on its atomic program.

One development to watch for, he said, would be readiness by Jalili to meet U.S. counterpart William Burns in a bilateral meeting. While the Iranians met several delegations at the Geneva talks, they refused a U.S. overture to sit down one-on-one.

As a subset of the talks, discussions could be held on reviving an offer to exchange some of Iran's enriched uranium for fuel rods for Tehran's research reactor.

First made in late 2009, that offer was supported by the six powers as a way of reducing Iran's enriched stockpile, thereby potentially delaying its ability to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

But it lapsed over Iranian conditions and later the realization that it no longer made sense to discuss shipping out the original amount, as Iran continued adding to its enriched uranium trove.

The diplomat said any agreement to explore reviving those talks should be seen only as a confidence-building measure and should not detract from the ultimate goal of curbing Iran's enrichment activities.

The nuclear talks are being held in the Ciragan Palace, resplendent with marble fittings, balconies and chandeliers, along the Bosporus strait, which divides Istanbul between the Asian and European continents. Fire destroyed the former Ottoman palace in the early 20th century, but the building was restored two decades ago and part of the grounds were turned into a five-star hotel.