EU hopes for real results at Geneva meeting
By Sara Rajabova
Ahead of the Geneva talks in mid-October, the European Union announced that it expects "tangible results" at the upcoming nuclear talks, urging Iran to offer new proposals during the negotiations with six major world powers.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann said they hope that Iran will finally come forward with constructive and concrete proposals, Press TV reported.
"We look forward to seeing their ideas and we are very ambitious to move forward very quickly. It is really time for tangible results in these negotiations," Mann said.
Iran and the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany -- have held several rounds of talks on a range of issues, with the main focus being on Iran's nuclear energy program.
The sides wrapped up their latest round of negotiations on April 6 in the Kazakh city of Almaty. An earlier meeting had been held in Almaty on February 26-27.
The sides of the nuclear negotiation wait for the new proposals from each other at the upcoming talks in Geneva, which is scheduled to take place on October 15-16.
U.S. State Secretary John Kerry called on Iran to offer new proposals at the Geneva meeting following his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier on October 7.
"So what we need are a set of proposals from Iran that will fully disclose how they will show the world that their program is peaceful," Kerry said.
However, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said recently that the group of six major world powers should put forward new proposals for the Geneva talks.
"We expressed our views during the New York meeting and we will continue to do so in Geneva," Zarif said, adding that the previous proposals offered by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany were now "history."
The West suspects Tehran's nuclear program may be aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability, but Iran insists it is purely for peaceful purposes.
Tehran has rejected the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to developing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.