(Newser)
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The talks on Iran's nuclear program that began amid such high hopes didn't exactly succeed, but they didn't exactly fail, either. Instead, both sides have agreed to keep talking, reports the New York Times. The next round will be June 18-19 in Russia, one of six nations including the US trying to get Tehran to scale back. Those talks will come just weeks ahead of a tough new phase of European sanctions.
- Lead EU negotiator Catherine Ashton: “Significant differences remain," but "what we have now is some common ground and a meeting in place where we can take this forward."
- Top Iran negotiator Saeed Jalili: The talks were "thorough but unfinished," he says. "We were able to get familiar with the views of each other."
- Sticking point: Iran wants the world powers to agree that it has a right to enrich uranium, reports the Washington Post. After that, Tehran would apparently be willing to keep it under the magic figure of 20%. Iran also wants sanctions to ease up immediately.
