World powers await 'concrete' results from Iran talks

(BRUSSELS) - World powers hope Iran will agree to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent at this week's talks on Tehran's contested nuclear drive, a European diplomat said Monday.

Commenting on negotiations between world powers and Tehran that resume in Baghdad on Wednesday, the source said: "Baghdad should focus on concrete substance. The ball is in their court."

Iran's lead negotiator Saeed Jalili meets the so-called P5+1 group -- the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany -- in the Iraqi capital for a second round of discussions after the talks were revived in Istanbul last month following a 15-month breakdown.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton leads the P5+1 side.

Global powers, as well as Israel and Arab nations, are concerned by reports that Tehran is reaching ever closer to enriching enough uranium to 20 percent to build a bomb.

"Time is of the essence. The 20 percent enrichment is progressing while we are talking," the source said.

Giving the International Atomic Energy Agency access to a key military installation outside Tehran would be "important but not sufficient," the source said.

The IAEA suspects explosives tests for nuclear warhead research have been conducted at the Parchin installation.

Tehran hopes to see a lifting of punishing international sanctions but the diplomat said Iran must first "comply with its obligations."

The source said the international community was ready to cooperate with Iran on nuclear safety, supplying isotopes for medical treatment or fuel rods for a research reactor, or assisting in counter-narcotics schemes.

If there was "a serious outcome" in Baghdad, there will be a follow-up, the source added.