VIENNA/ ISTANBUL: Iran has the technical capability to make a nuclear weapon and its atomic activities do not seem to be slowing down, a scientific report said, contradicting US assessments that Tehran's program has suffered setbacks. The findings, published Friday by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) as world powers and Iran held talks in Istanbul, may fuel new debate on whether Tehran's work is facing major problems or not. “Calculations based on IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) data show that Iran has increased its enrichment performance over the past year,” said Ivanka Barzashka, an FAS research associate. Meanwhile, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Iran maintains the right to enrich uranium in defiance of world powers after talks on its controversial nuclear program ended in failure in Istanbul. Talks between world powers and Iran ended Saturday without progress in tackling concerns over Tehran's nuclear program. “This is not the conclusion I'd hoped for,” European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said at the end of the talks in Istanbul Saturday. “I am disappointed.” The best that the six world powers – the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain – can hope for is that Iran rethinks its position, once chief negotiator Jalili reports back to Tehran. “We now wait to hear ... whether Iran will respond on reflection,” said Ashton, the lead negotiator for the six world powers. An aide to Jalili told Reuters that there would be another round of talks, even if the timing and venue were undecided. But Ashton said further talks depended on a more constructive approach from Tehran. “The process can go forward if Iran chooses to respond positively,” she said. “The door remains open. The choice remains in Iran's hands.” The powers have offered a nuclear fuel swap that would effectively reduce Iran's reserves of low enriched uranium to levels too small to be used to make a bomb. But Iran would have to drop pre-conditions for a deal to happen. The West suspects Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons while Tehran says its atomic energy program is peaceful. The standoff has dragged on for eight years and expectations were low heading into the Istanbul talks.
