World powers seek nuke deal with Iran as Geneva talks launch

PanARMENIAN.Net - World powers will seek to hammer out a breakthrough deal with Iran to start resolving a decade-old dispute over its nuclear program in two-day talks that begin on Thursday, November 7 although both sides say an agreement is far from certain, Reuters reported.

The United States and its allies say they are encouraged by Tehran's shift to friendlier rhetoric after years of hostility since the June election of President Hassan Rouhani, who has pledged to repair ties with the West and win sanctions relief.

But they stress Iran needs to back its words with action and take concrete steps to scale back its atomic work, which they suspect has covert military aims, a charge Tehran denies.

"What we're looking for is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran's nuclear program from moving forward and rolls it back for the first time in decades," a senior U.S. official told reporters on the eve of the talks.

That would help buy time needed for Iran and the six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - to reach a broader diplomatic settlement in a dispute that could otherwise plunge the Middle East into a new war.

The six nations want Iran to suspend its most sensitive uranium enrichment efforts, reduce its stockpile of such material and diminish its capacity to produce it in the future.

In return for any concessions, Iran wants the powers to lift painful economic sanctions that have slashed its daily oil sales revenues by 60 percent in the past two years and devalued its rial currency by more than half.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told French daily Le Monde a deal was "not that far off," although it might not be struck at the talks in Thursday and Friday in Geneva.

"We can conclude (a deal) this week in Geneva, and if that's not the case, it's not a disaster, as long as things are moving forward," he was quoted as saying.