Iran reaches ‘milestone’ in new deal in nuclear talks days after Obama, Israel plans go public
Iran’s negotiations with world powers over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program reached “a turning point” this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday, suggesting a breakthrough was within reach.
“I call it a milestone. It is a turning point in the negotiations,” Salehi told Austrian broadcaster ORF in an interview during a visit to the Austrian capital for a United Nations conference.
photo/Talmoryair
“We are heading for goals that will be satisfactory for both sides. I am very optimistic and hopeful,” he said, according to a German translation of remarks he made in English.
Salehi, who had said on Wednesday he was “very confident” an agreement could be reached, gave no details of the talks in Kazakhstan, but said the fact that discussions would resume in a month showed the process was moving forward.
This “deal” comes just after news of President Obama and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu were set to meet and discuss a June attack on Iran.
In a separate interview with the Austria Press Agency (APA), Salehi was asked about Iran’s enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, a bone of contention with the West. Iran says it has a sovereign right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, and wants to fuel nuclear power plants so that it can export more oil.
But 20-percent purity is far higher than that needed for nuclear power, and rings alarm bells abroad because it is only a short technical step away from weapons-grade uranium.
Iran says it produces higher-grade uranium to fuel a research reactor.
