AFP: World powers negotiating on Iran’s nuclear program have renewed their offer for talks despite imposing new sanctions against the Islamic republic, the United States said Friday.
WASHINGTON (AFP) — World powers negotiating on Iran’s nuclear program have renewed their offer for talks despite imposing new sanctions against the Islamic republic, the United States said Friday.
Senior US diplomat William Burns travelled to Brussels for talks with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union on the next steps on Iran, the State Department said.
“They restated the offer to meet with Iran for discussions on the nuclear issue and stressed the door remains open to Iran,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
He said the powers endorsed an offer by EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, who wrote to Iran last month inviting him for talks.
The so-called P5-plus-One — the five veto-wielding powers on the Security Council plus Germany — were instrumental in pushing forward a UN resolution last month that imposed a fourth set of sanctions on Iran.
The Brussels meeting agreed on the “importance of swift enforcement” of the resolution, Toner said.
The United States and European Union are worried that Iran’s clerical regime, which is staunchly anti-Western and anti-Israel, is developing nuclear weapons.
But US President Barack Obama has also offered to engage in dialogue with Iran to find a way to end decades of hostility.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
