No Progress.

As details of last week's meeting in Baghdad between Iran and the UN's “Five plus one group” have become available it is clear that much less was achieved than had been hoped for on the UN side.

The best that can be said is that the negotiations did not break down as others have done in the past and that the two sides will meet again in Moscow on June 18.

The UN's main objective is to persuade Iran to reduce the scale of its enrichment of uranium which is currently building a stockpile that could quickly be further processed to weapons-standard.

Any agreement to move in that direction would be a considerable concession by Tehran and it is understandable that it had hoped for a comparable offer in return -- for instance a moderation of UN sanctions and even a delay in the planned intensified sanctions on Iran's oil exports which is due to take effect on July 1.

Instead, all that UN put on the table last week in return for Iranian co-operation was a programme for increasing the supply of spare parts for Iranian civil aircraft.

On the face of it that does not seem likely to shift entranched Iranian positions.
For the United States, under pressure from Israel for early action, the timing is very awkward and negotiating progress is necessary.