Senior diplomats from the European Union and Iran will meet on July 24 for technical talks on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program to try to salvage diplomatic efforts to resolve the decade-long standoff, Reuters reported Monday, July 9. The meeting in Istanbul will be the second in a series of discussions to clarify technical aspects of Tehran’s activity. “The objective for the meeting ... is to look further at how existing gaps in positions could be narrowed and how the process could be moved forward,” a spokesman for E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. Tensions between the West and Iran have increased since high-level negotiations foundered in Moscow in June, with Tehran saying it had successfully tested medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel as a response to threats of attack.