After a first day of "very detailed" technical discussion, nuclear talks in Geneva between Iran and the major powers moved into the second day.
The Guardian reports that Iranian and Western diplomats held direct meetings last night following Iran’s power-point presentation during the multilateral talks.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, and the Iranian foreign minister met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Araghchi told Iranian media that the meeting with the U.S. diplomats was only limited to nuclear issues and nothing was said about re-establishing diplomatic relations with the U.S. Those diplomatic ties were severed back in 1979.
Iran's presentation was entitled: “Closing an Unnecessary Crisis: Opening New Horizons”; However, no details of its contents have been released.
Araghchi told reporters after the presentations that he feels the Iranian proposal has the potential to make a breakthrough.
The Guardian reports that unlike previous talks, the sessions are being carried out in English, in which both the Iranian foreign minister and his deputy are fluent. This has allowed the negotiations to move twice as fast as before.
A senior U.S. official has been quoted by The Guardian as saying: “To get to a comprehensive agreement is very, very difficult with highly technical issues that have to be resolved. We are looking for a confidence-building step that will put some time on the clock. The aim is to rebuild trust … to constrain the program and even take it back a notch.”
She has indicated, however, that the U.S. delegation includes financial experts as a mark of Washington’s readiness to scale down sanctions in response to Iranian concessions.
