“There’s quite a bit of mistrust between both sides,” Annan told reporters Wednesday at U.N. World Headquarters in New York.
“The West believes that Iran has to reestablish trust and confidence. The Iranians tell me the same thing: that the west has to establish confidence with them,” the secretary-general said.
Annan also said there has been a noticeable shift in the Iranian perspective. Tehran is ready to negotiate and may even consider suspending its uranium enrichment program, which the international community fears is part of a nuclear weapons program.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a major shift — a slight shift in the sense that they are now saying… ‘Let’s negotiate,'” Annan said. “Suspension will be on the agenda and may be possible during the negotiations, not that it’s outright rejection.”
But even as he expressed hopefulness that a peaceful solution can be found, Annan said both sides are still far apart.
“The West will tell you the Iranians have been stringing along the negotiations in order to continue with their enrichment and that they kept stringing us along and suddenly there they were in the midst of enrichment,” Annan said.
