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.jpg) TEHRAN – The European Union urged Iran’s new president on Monday to make “rapid progress” towards resolving the dispute over the country’s nuclear program after he struck an apparently more conciliatory stance, AFP reported.
The West is hoping that President Hassan Rohani will take a more constructive approach in the long-running talks on Tehran’s nuclear drive.
On Sunday, Rohani repeated his campaign promise to help Iranians who are under U.S. and EU economic sanctions and called for “mutual respect” with the West, striking a sharply different tone from his predecessor.
“We take note of the new president’s words,” said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton, who has led talks with Tehran on the nuclear dispute.
“We hope that the new Iranian government will be prepared to make rapid progress towards addressing international concerns about its nuclear program and engage constructively on the [P5+1] proposal for confidence-building,” Mann said.
Tehran insists that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
As a signatory to the non-proliferation regime (NPT), Iran has right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In his inaugural speech on Sunday, the new president said Iranians were under “a lot of economic pressure” because of tough U.S. and EU sanctions.
“The only path to interact with Iran is through negotiations on equal grounds, reciprocal trust-building, mutual respect, and reducing hostilities,” he said.
“If you want a proper answer, do not speak with Iran with the language of sanctions but with the language of respect,” Rohani added.
The White House said Iran would find the United States a “willing partner” if Rohani was serious.
Ashton is lead negotiator with Iran for the P5+1 group, which is made up of the five permanent UN Security Council members, Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States plus Germany.
She met Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Istanbul in May for talks he described as “long and useful” after fruitless discussions the previous month in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
U.S. and EU sanctions have targeted Iran’s oil sector, cut its access to global banking, and contributed to soaring inflation.
EP/PA
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