Iran nuclear talks avoid collapse

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Talks between Iran and world powers seeking to persuade the Islamic Republic to curb its nuclear program came close to collapse on Friday, but would resume on Saturday, a western official said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton convinced the Iranian delegation to remain at the talks, which will go into a second day on Saturday with little prospect of concrete progress beyond entrenched positions in the eight-year-old dispute.

The West suspects Iran plans to develop a nuclear weapon but Tehran insists its atomic energy program is peaceful and that it has a right to enrich uranium to power its nuclear reactors.

"We had been preparing for the possibility of a potential collapse," the western diplomat said, crediting the tough line taken by Ashton and the unity of the six powers.

"She seems to have managed to hold the position and convince the Iranians to stay at the table."

The six big powers dealing with Iran via Ashton are the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

Earlier, state-run Iranian television reported that the outcome of the meeting between Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and China could prove crucial to the continuation of the talks.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted an Iranian delegate saying the talks had been "good and constructive."

Negotiators had gone into the Istanbul meeting with low expectations, and prospects were not enhanced when an aide to Jalili drew a red line round its enrichment activities during the meeting.

"We will not allow any talks linked to freezing or suspending Iran's enrichment activities to be discussed at the meeting in Istanbul," Abolfazl Zohrevand told reporters.

Uranium enriched to a low degree yields fuel for electricity or, if refined to a very high level, the fissile core of a nuclear bomb.