Accessibility links

Breaking News

Kerry: Diplomatic Window 'Cracking Open' on Iran


FILE - Iranian technicians work at a facility producing uranium fuel outside of Isfahan, 410 kilometers south of the capital, Tehran.
FILE - Iranian technicians work at a facility producing uranium fuel outside of Isfahan, 410 kilometers south of the capital, Tehran.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said the window for diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program is "cracking open" ahead of new negotiations with between Iran and world powers.

The Islamic Republic is set to hold talks Tuesday and Wednesday with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany.

Kerry's comments came even as a senior Iranian negotiator said Sunday that Tehran will not transfer its nuclear material out of the country.

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian state television that the removal of nuclear material from Iran is a "red line."

In previous rounds of negotiations, world powers called for Iran to give up its existing stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity and send it abroad. Uranium of that purity is a short technical step away from being converted to weapons-grade material.

Araghchi said that Tehran, however, "will negotiate" about its "level" of uranium enrichment.

The nuclear talks will be the first since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office in August, promising to lead a diplomatic effort to ease Western sanctions on his country.


His predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defied U.N. Security Council demands to suspend Iran's uranium enrichment program, which Western powers believe is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG