The European Union urged Iran's new president Monday to make "rapid progress" towards resolving concerns over the country's disputed nuclear program after he struck an apparently more conciliatory stance.
The European Union urged
Iran
's new
president Monday to make "rapid progress" towards resolving concerns
over the country's disputed nuclear program after he struck an apparently more
conciliatory stance.
The West is hoping that President Hassan Rowhani will take a more constructive
approach in the long-running talks on
Tehran
's
nuclear drive, which despite Iranian denials is suspected by world powers of
having military objectives.
On Sunday, he repeated his campaign promise to help Iranians who are struggling
under the weight of
U.S.
and
EU economic sanctions and called for "mutual respect" with the West,
striking a sharply different tone from his predecessor.
"We take note of the new President's words," said Michael Mann,
spokesman for E.U. foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton, who has led talks
with
Tehran
on
the nuclear dispute.
"We hope that the new Iranian government will be prepared to make rapid
progress towards addressing international concerns about its nuclear programme
and engage constructively on the (P5+1) proposal for confidence-building,"
Mann said.
Western powers believe the Iranian nuclear program is being used to develop an
atomic bomb, but
Tehran
insists it is for peaceful purposes.
In his inaugural speech Sunday, the new president said Iranians were under
"a lot of economic pressure" because of tough
U.S.
and
EU sanctions over
Iran
's
refusal to stop uranium enrichment.
"The only path to interact with
Iran
is
through negotiations on equal grounds, reciprocal trust-building, mutual
respect and reducing hostilities," he said.
"If you want a proper answer, do not speak with
Iran
with
the language of sanctions but with the language of respect," Rowhani
added.
The White House said
Iran
would
find the
United States
a
"willing partner" if Rowhani was serious.
Ashton is lead negotiator with Iran for the P5+1 group, which is made up of the
five permanent United Nations Security Council members, China, France, Russia,
the U.K. and the U.S. plus Germany.
She met
Iran
's top
nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in
Istanbul
in
May for talks he described as "long and useful" after fruitless
discussions the previous month in
Almaty
,
Kazakhstan
.
U.S.
and
EU sanctions have crippled
Iran
's
once lucrative oil sector, cut its access to global banking and contributed to
soaring inflation and a shrinking economy.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01