"Time is On MY Side" - Iran, world powers remain "far apart" - EU's Ashton.

"Time is On MY Side" - Iran, world powers remain "far apart" - EU's Ashton.(TI).World powers and Iran remained far apart after ending two days of intensive talks on Tehran's nuclear programme on Saturday, the European Union's foreign policy chief said, prolonging a stand-off that risks spiralling into a new Middle East war, Reuters reported.

The failure to reach a breakthrough deal aimed at easing growing international concern over Iran's contested nuclear activity marked a further setback for diplomatic efforts to resolve the decade-old dispute peacefully.

Underlining the lack of substantial progress during the meeting in the Kazakh city of Almaty, no new negotiations between the two sides appeared to have been scheduled.

"Over two days of talks, we had long and intensive discussions on the issues addressed in our confidence-building proposal," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

"It became clear that our positions remain far apart," Ashton, who represents the six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - in dealings with Iran, told a news conference.

Ashton said that for the first time there had been a "real back and forth between us when were able to discuss details, to pose questions, and to get answers directly ... To that extent, that has been a very important element"

But, she added: "What matters in the end is substance. We know what we want to achieve and the challenge is to get real engagement so we can move forward with this and that's the ambition."

The talks were held against a backdrop of flaring tension between big powers and North Korea, which like Iran is defying international demands to curb its nuclear programme. But unlike North Korea, which has carried out three nuclear tests since 2006, Iran says its nuclear energy activity is entirely peaceful.Hmmmmm.......North Koreans among 40 dead at Iran nuke plant......“engineering team from the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the Iranian organization that developed the Shehab-3 ballistic missile in North korea” Peaceful indeed. Read the full story here.