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Iran and Six Nations Agree to Two More Rounds of Nuclear Talks
(New York Times) Steven Erlanger - Talks between Iran and six world powers over its nuclear program ended on Wednesday with an agreement to convene technical experts in Istanbul on March 18 and return to Almaty, Kazakhstan, for further negotiations among the full delegations on April 5 and 6, a senior Western diplomat said. Tehran was offered step-by-step sanctions relief in return for confidence-building measures from Iran, Western diplomats said. The ultimate goal of talks with Iran is to get the country to comply with Security Council resolutions demanding that it stop enrichment altogether until it can satisfy the International Atomic Energy Agency that it has no weapons program and no hidden enrichment sites. The six nations talking with Iran have remained united and share an impatience over what they perceive to be its delaying tactics. The Russian envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said Tuesday that easing sanctions would be possible only if Iran could assure the world that its nuclear program was for exclusively peaceful purposes.