Iran to reopen nuclear talks with US, others
Talks are due to begin between Iran and some nations over the disputed nuclear programme, the first such negotiations since the election of the Iranian
president, Hassan Rouhani.
The talks in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday will involve representatives of Iran and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany – the so-called “P5+1” group.
Iranian diplomats are expected to face pressure to scale back their country’s enrichment of uranium in return for the easing of tough US-led sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
The election in June of Rouhani, who has pledged to smoothen Tehran’s international relations, has raised hopes of a negotiated solution and thawed relations between the US and Tehran, Rouhani said in New York last month he wanted a deal with the P5+1 within three to six months.
A US official told Reuters news agency that any potential sanctions relief would be “targeted, proportional to what Iran puts on the table… no one should expect a breakthrough overnight”, the official stressed.
Diplomats said scenarios for potential relief had been drawn up ahead of the talks.
The US and its allies suspect Iran is seeking to develop the capability to make nuclear weapons. Iran denies this but its refusal to curb sensitive nuclear activity has drawn tough international sanctions.
Since 2006, Iran has rejected UNSC demands that it halt uranium enrichment and has continued to expand its nuclear fuel programme, leading to increasingly harsh sanctions.
Hopes of a negotiated settlement of the dispute were raised last month when President Barack Obama and Rouhani spoke on telephone, the highest level US-Iranian contact since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979. Washington and Tehran have not had diplomatic relations since 1980.
In the US, 10 senators – six Democrats and four Republicans – wrote to Obama to say they were open to such a deal to relaxing sanctions on Iran if it slows down its nuclear programme.
The World Bank says sanctions pushed Iran into recession last year, and the Iranian rial lost an estimated 80 percent of its value against the US dollar between March 2012 and March 2013, leading to high inflation. It says bankrupcies are on the rise, Iran’s pharma industry struggles to import supplies and factories are working at half capacity.
