New York
(AsiaNews / Agencies) - Diplomats from the U.S. and other five countries met
yesterday with the Iranian Foreign Minister , Mohammad Javad Zarif , to speed
up negotiations on Iran's nuclear program . Zarif
has expressed a desire to come to an agreement within a year.
The
P5 +1 group (the United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany) have
agreed to resume negotiations with Iran on 15 October in Geneva .
Before
the meeting with the P5 +1, Zarif had personally met with John Kerry, U.S.
Secretary of State . Both expressed cautious
optimism. Kerry
said Zarif "put several possibilities on the table," said that words must
be followed by action. Zaif
, for his part , described the meeting as "constructive" also asked to
move from words to deeds.
The
U.S. demands that Iran stop uranium enrichment programs that could lead to the
construction of nuclear weapons. Tehran must also declare its sites and
programs to UN inspectors . Zarif
, who, with
his president Hassan Rouhani , reiterated the peaceful nature of the
Iranian program , has expressed the hope that the series of sanctions that is
prostrating the economy of his country will soon be lifted.
Since
Rouhani's victory last June , Iran has been offering a
more open image of itself to the
international community . The
Iranians hope that the breaking of isolationism in which the country was driven
will repair the economy brought to its knees by years of sanctions. During
the year , the export of oil, the primary source of revenue , fell by almost
50% to less than one million barrels per day, in two years , inflation has
doubled , reaching up to 39% the month last year.