P5+1 Offers Iran Easing Sanctions in Nuclear Talks

Local Editor

World powers began talks with Iran on its nuclear program in the Kazakh city of Almaty on Tuesday, in a fresh attempt to resolve a decade-old standoff.

The six - United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France - are expected to offer Tehran some sanctions relief. According to report, they would offer to ease gold, petrochemicals banking sanctions in talks.
However, no breakthrough is expected at the talks, the first such meeting in eight months, but diplomats hope for an agreement to hold further talks soon on how to implement steps to ease the tension.

"What we would like to see tomorrow is a recognition by our Iranian colleagues that our offer is a serious one ... but it is not the final act in the play," said one diplomat participating in the talks. "I wouldn't predict a decisive breakthrough."
The Secretary of Iran Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili heads the Islamic Republic's negotiating delegation while the the P5+1 representatives are led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

In a meeting with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Almaty Monday, Jalili said, "The international community expects the P5+1 group's constructive, logical and reliable answers to Iran's comprehensive proposals [presented] during the Moscow meeting."
He added that powers should know that by relying on nuclear weapons and exerting various pressures on the Iranian nation, they would not be able to dissuade Tehran from achieving its nuclear rights.

Meanwhile, a group of US senators have urged the European Union to cut off Iran's access to its euro foreign exchange reserves.

In a letter to President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy on Monday, 36 US senators urged the union to close "a significant loophole in US-EU sanctions policy" in order to increase pressure on Iran.
"We strongly urge you to take all the necessary measures to cut off Iran's ability to use its foreign-held euros," the Financial Times quoted the letter as saying.
The senators called on the EU to deny Iran access to Target2, Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system operated by the European Central Bank, which allegedly is being used to facilitate Iranian trade transactions.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org