Talks on Iran's nuclear program prolonged

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ISTANBUL, Turkey, April 15 (UPI) -- The tedious diplomatic attempts of trying to rein in Iran's nuclear development policy will resume next month, a summit of leaders announced in Istanbul.

Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili met with European Union policy chief Catherine Ashton and representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States in Turkey Saturday to discuss international concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

The meeting concluded with a joint decision to meet again May 23 in Baghdad, CNN reported.

Iran has defied repeated international calls to open its nuclear plant to inspectors from the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, claiming sovereign rights to produce its own electricity.

However, there is widespread suspicion Tehran is working toward developing nuclear weapons with uranium enrichment at the plant in Bushehr.

The country is under four sets of U.N. sanctions as well as embargoes from other countries.

Iran's traditional anti-West allies, Russia and China, appeared to step back in the Istanbul talks and join the other four countries' call for Tehran to make its atomic program more transparent, The New York Times said.