Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili prays at a mosque in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Friday.

News analysis

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- An air of cautious optimism hung over Almaty, Kazakstan, on Friday as Western and Iranian negotiators began the first day of another round of nuclear talks.

After Friday’s talks had ended for the day, however, a Western diplomat said the sides still had work to do.

"We had a long and substantial discussion on the issues, but we remain a long way apart on the substance,” the diplomat said. “We are now evaluating the situation and will meet again tomorrow."

The six powers – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – met Iranian officials with the aim of settling a decade-long tussle over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran has resisted pressure -- and hardening economic sanctions -- for years arguing its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes and therefore should be allowed to continue.

During the last meetings in February, the world powers appeared to have watered down their demands and offer mild relief to sanctions that have been strangling Iran’s economy.

Western diplomats were hoping for a discussion of the specific points of their proposals, such as closing a nuclear facility and shipping some enriched uranium stockpiles abroad in return for easing some sanctions.

Iranian officials were caught off guard by what many view as the West’s relatively generous offer.

“For the first time during any of the international nuclear talks, we witnessed signals that the other side is acting in good faith,” Iran’s foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi told a news conference in Tehran on March 10, referring to the last discussions also held in Almaty.

“We hope they continue to do so,” he added.

Western diplomats, speaking on the condition of anonymity after the February talks, also said they were cautiously optimistic. 

This attitude comes after a string of failed talks.

Both sides have accused the other of not being realistic or serious about wanting to make a deal. Throughout, the West has charged Iran with delaying tactics, and of saying one thing then doing another. 

Both sides are in a sticky spot. 

President Barack Obama came to office on a mandate to end two wars, not to open up another front. So military action against Iran to halt a nuclear weapons program could prove unpopular in the United States. 

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

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Iran is also walking a tightrope: Israel has consistently said its patience with diplomacy is running out and it may resort to military strikes on Iran.

Tehran is also under pressure from sanctions. The economic distress could spill over into massive street protests, something the government definitely does not want to see in the run-up to June elections. 

Yet another issue that hangs over talks: the war in Syria.  

Iran is one of the Syrian government’s most important backers: Several senior Iranian military officials have already been killed in Damascus. Syrian rebels have accused the West of standing by as the regime of Bashar Assad kills tens of thousands of his own citizens. 

Obama’s reluctance to arm the rebels in Syria is partly because it would scupper negations with Iran over its nuclear program, according to foreign policy experts and some Western diplomats. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published on Fri Apr 5, 2013 10:56 AM EDT

Stanislav Filippov / AFP

Iran's representatives, led by their top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, fourth from left, sit at a table during the talks with world powers representatives on Iran's nuclear program in the Kazakh city of Almaty on Wednesday.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- On Tuesday, officials from Iran and six world powers held their first meeting in eight months as part of the effort to resolve a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program that threatens to trigger another war in the Middle East.

This time, officials and journalists set up shop in the city of Almaty, deep in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan.

While the negotiators negotiated, journalists waiting in another hotel wondered, “Why Almaty?”

After all, this is not an easy location for anyone to get to -- journalist or diplomat.

Istanbul seemed like the obvious choice, with two previous rounds having been held there (talks have also been held in Baghdad and Moscow). But Turkey has joined the ever-expanding list of countries that have a tense relationship with Iran. The two countries until recently enjoyed a strong relationship, but that soured with Turkey’s support of the rebels in Syria. Iran is Syrian President Bashar Assad’s closest ally. 

Local journalists explain that Kazakhstan is a symbolically wise choice because it was the first ex-Soviet state to give up nuclear weapons. Besides, it is a neutral country between the West and Iran.

Hazlan Abdul Hakim / Getty

Skyline of Almaty, Kazakhstan

Choosing the venue for the talks was a negotiation in its own right. The six world powers -- Germany, China, France, Russia, the United States and United Kingdom -- suggested Geneva; Iran suggested Baghdad. Then they suggested Stockholm; Iran suggested Almaty.

When the six suggested going west, Iran wanted to go east.

So now journalists and officials sit in Almaty -- but not together, because most journalists weren't allowed to attend.  While the diplomats and officials discussed matters in the Rixos hotel, more than 100 journalists hung out in the InterContinental.  In a palm tree-graced lobby, reporters spent their day gossiping and speculating whether the two sides would even agree to another round of talks Wednesday morning. 

Mostly, many journalists seemed very bored, despite the spread that the Kazakh government laid out for them at lunch.

At the end of a long day of waiting, a spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton updated reporters.

"We had a useful meeting today," Michael Mann said. “Hopefully the Iranians will be able to reflect overnight and will come back and view our proposal positively."

There could still be another breakdown in negotiations, as in previous talks during the last seven years, and then another hiatus. As in other times, a negotiated agreement could prove impossible to reach.

And if that happens, as it has every other time, negotiators and journalists will look for another world city to alight in.

Related:

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Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

Emergency and security personnel are seen through a heavy fog about 100 meters (328 feet) from the site of a plane crash near Almaty on Tuesday.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A passenger plane crashed near Kazakhstan's commercial capital of Almaty on Tuesday, news agencies quoted SCAT airline as saying.

Twenty-two people were killed in the crash, Yuri Ilyin, deputy head of the emergencies department in Almaty, told Reuters from the scene of the crash near the village of Kyzyl Tu.

The plane had been en route from the city of Kokshetau in northern Kazakhstan to Almaty in the southeast of the country when it crashed near the village of Kyzyl Tu, Interfax news agency said.

Almaty and the surrounding area were veiled in thick fog on Tuesday.

SCAT is based in Kazakhstan and operates extensive domestic services and some international flights.

It was the second plane crash in the Central Asian country and former Soviet republic in just a over a month.

On December 25, a military transport airplane crashed in bad weather near the southern Kazakh city of Shymkent, killing all 27 people on board.