world powers, iran agree to resume nuclear talks (26th sept 2013) (1)

8/13/2019 World Powers, Iran Agree to Resume Nuclear Talks (26th Sept 2013) (1)

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w w w . t h e c s s p o i n t . c o m Page 1

World Powers, Iran Agree to Resume

Nuclear Talks

UNITED NATIONS Major powers have agreed with Iran to resume talks

about its suspect nuclear program next month in Geneva.

The foreign ministers of the five permanent Security Council powers plus

Germany met with their Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, late

Thursday.

President Hassan Rouhani has designated Minister Zarif as his lead nuclear

negotiator.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said they had a good

and substantive meeting.

I am pleased that weve agreed to meet in Geneva on 15 and 16 of October

to pursue the agenda, to carry on from todays meeting and to hopefully

move this process forward," said Ashton.

The October talks will be the first round of substantive negotiations on Iran's

nuclear program since April.

Ashton said timetables were discussed.

We were interested to see that they are all of an ambitious nature. The

question is how far you can go in three months or six months or 12 months.


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And 12 months is a good time frame to think about some serious

implementation on the ground. But for me, what really matters now, is that

we get down to the detail and actually work out what will happen, when it

will happen, how we know its happened, how we move forward building

confidence as we go to get to that point," she said.

ran says its nuclear program is intended to produce nuclear energy for

civilian use, but the international community worries Tehran is secretly

trying to build nuclear bombs.

Thursdays meeting was the highest-level direct contact between the United

States and Iran in several years as Secretary of State John Kerry sat side-

by-side with the Iranian foreign minister. Although positive about the

session, Secretary Kerry was cautious.

"Needless to say, one meeting and a change in tone - which was welcome -

doesnt answer those questions yet and there is a lot of work to be done. So

we will engage in that work, obviously, and we hope very, very much, all of

us, that we can get concrete results that will answer the outstandingquestions regarding the program," said Kerry.

Minister Zarif was also upbeat, saying the discussions were substantive and

businesslike.

We hope to be able to make progress towards resolving this issue in a

timely fashion, based on respecting the rights of the Iranian people tonuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, and at the

same time making sure that there is no concern at the international level

that Irans nuclear program is anything but peaceful," said Zarif.


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Minister Zarif said as the process moves forward, sanctions imposed against

his country for its nuclear program must be lifted.

Speaking to an audience in New York Thursday evening, President Rouhani

addressed the nuclear issue, saying his country is a peaceful one.

But for the Islamic Republic of Iran, all its activities have been within the

safeguards agreement and have continued to be, and will continue to be,

under the supervision of the IAEA," said Rouhani.

Iranian officials are set to meet with the International Atomic Energy Agency

in Vienna on Friday.

world powers, iran agree to resume nuclear talks (26th sept 2013) (1)

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