(Geneva) – Iranian President Hasan Rohani said his country would “do its best” to secure a nuclear deal as Tehran and Washington held crunch talks on the long-running dispute. Senior negotiators from both camps met behind closed doors for a second day of talks at Geneva’s upscale Hotel President Wilson, which was sealed off to the media.
The meeting is part of a fresh diplomatic drive in the face of a looming July 20 deadline for a final deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers.
“Iran will do its best for a final deal with the P5+1,” said Rohani, a former nuclear negotiator, speaking in Turkey.
The self-declared moderate was elected president last year, succeeding hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and has launched a drive to mend fences with the West. “Iran is ready to sit at the negotiating table for a solution” to both the nuclear dispute and “unfair sanctions”, he said.
After over three hours of talks, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and nuclear pointman Abbas Araqchi said the climate was “positive”. Washington warned of “tough choices” as fellow P5+1 members try to build momentum in the crunch negotiations.
The US-Iran meeting began with a five-hour session, the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that American and Iranian negotiators have held direct, official nuclear talks.