Talks between Iran and six world powers over its nuclear program resumed in Almaty, Kazakhstan, today after a break of eight months, but there is a general atmosphere of gloom about their prospects for success. Since talks in Moscow last June, Iran has continued to increase its stockpile of uranium enriched to 20-percent purity, has begun to install a new generation of centrifuges and has not yet completed an agreement on inspection of suspect military sites with the IAEA.
With presidential elections in Iran scheduled for June, senior Western diplomats expressed skepticism that Tehran’s chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, the personal representative of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be willing to make compromises that could be portrayed as weakness at home.
{Andy Heller-Matzav.com Newscenter}
