P5+1, Iran begin nuclear talks in Geneva

Geneva, Oct 15:

and the five permanent members of the

plus

(P5+1) began a new round of talks here Tuesday over the resolution of the Iranian nuclear programme.

All participants in the negotiations arrived at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, where the head office of the European branch of the UN is located. Before the talks opened, the P5+1 - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany - held a coordinating meeting at a Geneva hotel.

Iran put forth to the international mediators absolutely "new proposals" for the resolution of the situation over the country's nuclear programme, a source in the Iranian delegation told ITAR-TASS Tuesday.

"This is absolutely new proposals and a new plan," he said.

"These proposals should not be linked with what had happened at the previous rounds of talks," the diplomatic source added.

These proposals envisage "the end to the unnecessary crisis and the opening of new horizons," the source told ITAR-TASS.

Tehran hopes to resolve completely with the international community the situation over the country's nuclear programme within a year at most.

Tehran hopes to resolve completely with the international community.

According to the source, the updated plan envisages gradual resolution of the problem.

"Within six months, a year at most, it is possible to make the problem absolutely not acute and pass it for debates exclusively within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," he said.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a constructive bilateral meeting in Geneva, Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann said.

Ashton is representing the European Union and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif his country at the meeting.

While Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is representing Russia, the US is being represented by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

IANS