FM Terms Iran-G5+1 Talks as “Very Good, Constructive”


FM Terms Iran-G5+1 Talks as “Very Good, Constructive”

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he had "very good and constructive" talks with foreign ministers of the six world powers on Thursday.

Zarif made the remarks on Thursday in a press conference shortly after his meeting with foreign ministers of the Group 5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The meeting which was hosted by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and attended by seven foreign ministers, marked the highest-level, direct contact between the US and Iran in many years as the US secretary of state, John Kerry, came face-to-face with the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“I’m satisfied with this first step, now we have to see whether we can match our positive words with serious deeds, so that we can move forward,” the Iranian minister said in a press conference after the talks.

He once again reiterated that Iran’s nuclear program is pursuing only peaceful purposes, and stressed that the result of the talks would have to include a “total lifting” of all sanctions against Tehran.

“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 to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” Zarif pointed out.

The Iranian top diplomat also pointed to his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry after the Thursday’s talks, saying they have “stressed on the need to continue these discussions” to reach a conclusion within a reasonable time.

“We also had a short bilateral discussion with Secretary Kerry after the meeting in which we stressed the need to continue these discussions to give it the political impetus it requires and hopefully to reach a conclusion within a reasonable time,” Zarif added.

In separate remarks after the meeting, John Kerry called the talks as “constructive," saying "We've agreed to try to continue a process that would try to make concrete and find a way to answer the questions that people have about Iran's nuclear program."

Kerry described the meeting as constructive, but said "there's a lot of work to be done" with questions still remaining about Iran's nuclear energy program.

 

 

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