Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said he wants to resolve the dispute over his country’s nuclear programme in three to six months, in an interview published online late Wednesday.
Rowhani told The Washington Post that a timeframe needed to be included as part of negotiations, and that “the shorter it is the more beneficial it is to everyone.”
“If it’s 3 months, that would be Iran’s choice. If it’s 6 months, that’s still good,” he said, according to transcripts of the interview. “It’s a question of months not years,” he added.
Later on Thursday, Iran is due to take part in ministerial-level nuclear talks with the five permanent members of UN Security Council and Germany — known as the P5+1 — in New York.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who has been tasked with leading Iran’s negotiating team, is expected to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in what would be the highest-level direct contact between US and Iranian officials since 1979.
Western powers accuse Iran of wanting to develop nuclear weapons, a claim that Rowhani has repeatedly denied since becoming Iranian President in August.
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