Sunday Times 2
Kerry: Iran must be serious at nuclear talks
View(s):WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (AFP) -New US Secretary of State John Kerry held out an olive branch to sanction-hit Iran on Friday, saying the world would respond if Tehran seriously addressed its nuclear programme at upcoming talks.
“The choice is really ultimately up to Iran,” Kerry told his first press conference since becoming America’s top diplomat a week ago.
Tehran, which has been hit by crippling international sanctions, has agreed to meet with the six world powers working to rein in its suspect nuclear program for a new round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan on February 26.
US Secretary of State John Kerry
In his first comments on Iran since taking the helm of the State Department, Kerry assured the Iranian leadership that “the window for diplomacy is still open” as they prepare for the next talks.
“The international community is ready to respond if Iran comes prepared to talk real substance and to address the concerns, which could not be more clear, about their nuclear program,” the new secretary of state vowed.
“If they don’t, then they will choose to leave themselves more isolated. That’s the choice,” Kerry said, speaking after his first bilateral talks with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird.
In talks held last May in Baghdad, the so-called P5+1 — the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — demanded Iran scale back its uranium enrichment, the part of its program that causes the most concern because it could provide the key ingredient for a nuclear bomb.
But because the P5+1 stopped short of offering relief from the sanctions, Iran walked away at the third round of talks in Moscow.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but many in the international community suspect that Tehran’s real aim is to develop an atomic bomb.
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