Kerry and Iranian
counterpart meet, set stage for new round of nuclear negotiations
1Secretary of State
John Kerry, along with fellow diplomats, met briefly 2Thursday with his Iranian counterpart, marking the
highest-level 3meeting between the two
countries since the Iranian revolution of 1979.
4EU foreign policy
chief Catherine Ashton later described the talks as 5“substantial” and said they had set the stage for a new round of 6negotiations
over Iran’s nuclear program Oct. 15-16 in Geneva.
7Speaking to
reporters later, Kerry warned there was still “a lot of work to 8be done” but
added he welcomed the “change
in tone.”
9Iranian Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif said he was "satisfied
with this first 10step."
11Kerry sat next to
Zarif at the meeting, the Associated Press reported. 12Others attending were the
five permanent members of the U.N. 13Security Council and Germany.
14The diplomats met
on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in 15New York, amid mixed signals
about how serious Iran was about 16coming back to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
17Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani said before the U.N. on Tuesday 18that he was ready to engage
in “time-bound” talks on Tehran’s nuclear 19program, hours after Obama said he had directed Kerry to
once again 20pursue diplomacy with Iran. The U.S. president noted indications
of a 21more “moderate course” from Iran’s new leader.
22But Obama was
snubbed by the Iranians, as U.S. officials revealed 23that Rouhani declined to
meet with Obama, even informally, on the 24sidelines of the U.N.
25A senior
administration official said a formal, one-on-one meeting was 26never on the
table. But, the official said, "we indicated that the two 27leaders could have had
a discussion on the margins if the opportunity 28presented itself."
29The official said:
"The Iranians got back to us; it was clear that it was 30too complicated
for them to do that at this time given their own 31dynamic back
home."
32Despite the snub,
U.S. officials remained optimistic. A senior State 33Department official said
ahead of the meeting Thursday that while they 34didn’t anticipate any issues
would be resolved, “we are hopeful that 35we can continue to chart a path
forward.”
36“We hope that this new Iranian government will show that it is 37prepared to
engage substantively to address these long standing 38concerns
and we will see today and in
months ahead whether they will 39follow words with action,”
the official said.
40Among the agenda
items at Thursday’s meeting was a review of the 41latest report on Iran’s
nuclear program issued by the Director General 42of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) to that agency’s 43Board of Governors.
44The report shows
that Iran has moved forward aggressively on its 45nuclear program this summer, continuing to
enrich uranium to levels 46consistent with weapons development and carrying out
undeclared 47activities at the
previously undeclared site of Parchin, leading the 48agency to say its verification duties
have been “seriously undermined.”
49Fox News’ James
Rosen and Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Function (Ana/cata)
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Grammatical category
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His
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2
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Iranian diplomatic
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Cata
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Possessive Adjective
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They
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5
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Kerry and Iranian
diplomatic
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Ana
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Personal Pronoun
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He
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Kerry
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Personal Pronoun
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He
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Javad Zarif, The
Iranian Minister
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Ana
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Personal Pronoun
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This
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Negotiations
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Demonstrative
adjective
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Others
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The diplomats
attending
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Indefinite adjective
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Its
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Iranian nuclear
program
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Cata
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Possessive Pronoun
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That
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Conjunction
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He
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Rohuani, Iranian
president
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He
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Obama, USA president
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that
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We
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USA Officials
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Itself
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The opportunity of
one-on-one meeting
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To USA government
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The situation
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The discussions
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Them
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Iranian and USA
presidents
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The Discussion
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Dem. Pron. Object
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This
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The time
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Their
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Their countries
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They
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The state’s official
and USA gov.
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The state’s official
and USA gov.
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The USA Government
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The USA Government
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This
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Iranian Government
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Dem. Adj
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That
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Conjunction
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It
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36
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The Iranian
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These
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The concerns
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Dem. Adj
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38
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All people
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They
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39
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The Iranian
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Personal Pronoun
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Its
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44
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The Iranian nuclear
program
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Possessive Adj.
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This
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45
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The summer
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Dem. Adj.
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Its
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48
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The Agency’s
verifications
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Cata
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Possessive Adj.
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This
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49
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The report
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Dem. Adj
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