Iran says too early to say if progress made in nuclear talks

It is too early to say whether Iran and six world powers made progress on Tuesday towards resolving the decade-long standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Reuters.                          

"It's too soon to judge," Araqchi said after the first day of resumed negotiations between Tehran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany.
                         
He was responding to a question about whether Iran and the six powers were any closer to resolving the nuclear dispute after the first day of the two-day talks.  
             
Meanwhile, a US State Department spokeswoman said that the United States would welcome a further bilateral meeting with Iran on the sidelines of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and six major powers that began in Geneva on Tuesday.         

"We would welcome an opportunity for a bilateral and have said so," Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said during a break in talks between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.                            

In turn, a European Union spokesman said Iran made a "very useful" presentation at talks on the Islamic Republic's contested nuclear program in Geneva on Tuesday. 
                            
Negotiators from six world powers, the European Union and Iran started a two-day meeting aimed at ending deadlock in a decade-old row over Tehran's nuclear work.                                                        
No details have emerged so far on what concessions Iran may have proposed, if any, in a bid to win relief from sanctions imposed over concerns it is working to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran says its atomic work is for peaceful purposes.                                  

Earlier, Iranian Deputy FM Abbas Araqchi said world powers had a "good" first reaction to Tehran's proposals regarding the dispute over its nuclear program and that the details would be discussed in the afternoon.                           

The minister, speaking to reporters after Iran made a PowerPoint presentation at the start of a two-day meeting with the six powers in Geneva, said the atmosphere in the discussions had been "positive". He gave no details of the proposals, describing them as "confidential".                                               
During years of on-and-off diplomacy, Iran has rejected western suspicions that it seeks to achieve the ability to make weapons. But the election of moderate President Hassan Rouhani in June has raised hopes in the West that a deal could be possible, in part because of the crippling effect of sanctions on the Iranian economy.


REUTERS