Iran, world powers seek to end standstill in nuke program dispute

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran will face pressure on Tuesday, October 15 to propose scaling back its nuclear program to win relief from crippling sanctions as talks between world powers and Tehran resume after a six-month hiatus, according to Reuters.

A two-day meeting in Geneva between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany is widely seen as the best chance in years to end deadlock in a decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program that could otherwise trigger a new Middle-East war.

The election in June of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as Iran's new president, and his pledges to smooth Tehran's international relations, has raised hopes of a negotiated solution.

On the eve of the Geneva talks, the United States held out the prospect of quick sanctions relief if Tehran moves swiftly to allay concerns about its nuclear program, although both countries said any deal would be complex and take time.

Western diplomats said it remained unclear whether proposals for ending the dispute Iran has promised to put forward in the meeting would be sufficient to enable headway to be made.

The United States 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.

"We definitely hope that the new momentum will translate into some concrete step forward," a senior Western diplomat said ahead of the talks, according to Reuters.

A senior U.S. administration official said: "I expect that they will give us a detailed understanding of what they have in mind. How detailed, I don't know."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had dinner with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the so-called "P5+1" nations in the talks, on Monday evening in Geneva.

A diplomat from one of the six powers said Zarif did not disclose details of any Iranian proposal.

"We had a good dinner," Zarif told Reuters as he returned to his hotel after the two-hour dinner at the Iranian diplomatic residence in Geneva. When asked if he had given Ashton details of an Iranian proposal, he said: "Proposal is for tomorrow."