Iran talks begin on final nuclear deal

Representatives from six world powers and Iran began talks on Tuesday seeking a final settlement on Tehran's contested nuclear program in the coming months despite caveats from both sides that a breakthrough deal may prove impossible.

The negotiations that began at the United Nations complex in Vienna, Austria between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States are part of the first round of high-level negotiations since a Nov. 24 interim deal.

The U.N. said that Iran has so far kept its part of the bargain and suspended elements of its nuclear program for six months. In return, the U.S. and Western powers agreed to a limited roll back of some economic sanctions. The interim deal was to allow more time for a long-term agreement to be negotiated. 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the man with the final say on all matters of state in the Islamic Republic, declared again on Monday that talks between Tehran and six world powers "will not lead anywhere." But Khamenei also reiterated that he did not oppose the delicate diplomacy. 

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sounded upbeat about the initial 40-minute discussions although he appeared to draw a line against Tehran's ballistic missile program being addressed in any future talks. 

"We had good discussions ... and we are trying to set an agenda. If we can agree on an agenda in the next two to three days, it means we have taken the first step. And we will move forward based on that agenda," he said. "This agenda ... will be about Iran's nuclear program and nothing else, nothing except Iran's nuclear activities can be discussed." 

Araghchi was answering a question about Iran's ballistic missile work after U.S. officials said they want Tehran to accept limitations on any nuclear-capable missile technology as part of any long-term deal reached by Iran and the powers. 

A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is overseeing the talks, said "nobody is expecting a final agreement in this round but we are hoping for progress ... the aim is to create a framework for future negotiations."

Iran insists it is not interested in producing nuclear weapons, but the six powers want Tehran to back its words with concessions. They seek an agreement that will leave Iran with little capacity to quickly ramp up its nuclear program into weapons-making mode with enriched uranium or plutonium, which can be used for the fissile core of a nuclear warhead.

For that, they say Iran needs to dismantle or store most of its 20,000 uranium enriching centrifuges, including some of those not yet working. The world powers also demand that an Iranian reactor now being built be either scrapped or converted from a heavy-water setup to a light-water facility that makes less plutonium.

Iran is desperate to shed nearly a decade of increasingly strict sanctions on its oil industry and its financial sector, but it is fiercely opposed to any major scaling back of its nuclear infrastructure.

"Dismantling (the) nuclear program is not on the agenda," Araghchi told reporters in Vienna. 

Al Jazeera and wire services