TEHRAN: Faltering nuclear talks between Iran and world powers could hit a make-or-break point in their next round in Moscow, with both sides digging in and manoeuvring for elusive advantage, analysts and diplomats say.
Bluster, propaganda, media leaks and official declarations have all noticeably sharpened in the past week by both sides. The rhetorical duel has become so serious that some fear the showdown has the potential to tip from diplomacy to military action.
"As both sides escalate for leverage, the reality is that neither side has gained an upper hand," an Iran specialist at the National Iranian American Council, Reza Marashi, wrote in a piece published by a website, The National Interest.
"Both sides are nearing a critical point at which delaying the inevitable choice between military action and compromise is no longer tenable," Marashi wrote.
One Western diplomat in the P5+1 group of world powers engaging Iran confessed to AFP, on condition of anonymity: "I increasingly struggle to see a way where this doesn't end in tears."
Both the United States and its ally Israel Iran's arch-foe, and the Middle East's sole, if undeclared, nuclear weapons state have warned they are keeping the option of air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The June 18-19 talks due to be held in Moscow, then, are seen as crucial.
"We don't intend on continuing talks for talks' sake. The window (for diplomacy) is closing," the US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, told a Tel Aviv security conference on Wednesday.
The last negotiations, held in Baghdad on May 23-24, exposed a gulf between the two sides' positions that looked almost unbridgeable, and nearly caused the talks to collapse.
"Significant differences remain," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after that round, though she claimed to see "some common ground" that could be developed in Moscow.
Ashton represents the P5+1, which comprises UN Security Council permanent members the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia, plus non-permanent member Germany.
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