(Reuters) – The two days of nuclear talks that were held in Kazakhstan between Iran and the six world powers have failed, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Saturday.

Ashton, who held the negotiations on behalf of the P5+1 powers – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – released a statement at the conclusion of talks.

“Over two days of talks we had long and intensive discussions on the issues addressed in our confidence-building proposal,” Ashton told a news conference in the Kazakh city of Almaty, where the negotiations took place.

“It became clear that our positions remain far apart,” she said.

Ashton said that the talks ended without even an agreement on another round of talks. She noted that in the coming weeks she will be in close contact with the head of Iran’s negotiating team, Saeed Jalili, in order to examine the possibility of more talks.