P5+1 looking for 'quick results' in talks with Iran
A top Western diplomat says that if agreement is reached on the end game, initial confidence-building steps would be reversible on both sides.
As talks begin Thursday, Nov. 7, in Geneva, both Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) are looking for “quick and concrete results,” according to a Western diplomat in Washington.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed previous reports that the goal of this week’s round of talks is agreement on an end state for the Iranian nuclear program and initial “reversible” confidence-building steps toward that goal.
“We all have an interest in quick and concrete results,” the diplomat said, adding that the objective is to define “what we want at the end result, and find a way [to proceed] until that.”
In Geneva, Michael Mann, spokesperson for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, told Al-Monitor’s Laura Rozen and other reporters covering the talks, “We hope to make concrete progress in the upcoming round.”
