Iran and six world powers came to the table in Geneva today for the first time in a year and exchanged pleasantries, but remained far apart on how deeply their talks should tackle the West's greatest concern—Iranian nuclear activities that could make atomic weapons. Tehran says it does not want atomic arms, but as it builds up its capacity to make such weapons, neither Israel nor the US have ruled out military action if Tehran fails to heed UN Security Council demands to freeze key nuclear programs.
The long-term aim for the six nations is nudging Iran toward agreeing to stop uranium enrichment. Present were delegates from the EU, US, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, along with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief negotiator. "The atmosphere was pleasant but businesslike," an official from one of the delegations said. But before the talks one nation's chief negotiator warned, "Don't expect much of anything." (More Iranian nuclear program stories.)