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Clinton: Iran made "good start" in nuclear talks

13 December 2010 22:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Iran has made a good start in talks with big powers about its nuclear program and progress should not be affected by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s decision to sack his foreign minister, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Clinton said Iran’s meeting this month in Geneva with representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany marked a return to substantive dialogue.
"It wasn’t more than that, but it was a good start to a return to serious negotiations," Clinton said during an appearance in Canada with the Canadian and Mexican foreign ministers.
Clinton noted that Tehran had agreed to a follow-up meeting next month in Istanbul, and signaled that the so-called "P5+1" powers would continue to press Iran to give up what they believe is a nuclear weapons program.
"We remain committed to pursuing every diplomatic avenue available to us and our international partners to persuade Iran to forego a nuclear weapons program," she said.
Asked if she had any reaction to news that Ahmadinejad had sacked long-serving Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and replaced him with one of his close allies, Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, Clinton said she had no insight into what might have caused the decision.
But she expressed confidence that the personnel change would not affect how negotiations may go forward.
"Whether one person or another is foreign minister is not as important as ... what the policy of the Iranian government is in dealing with the international community on this very important matter," Clinton said.
Both Clinton and Mottaki attended a security conference in Bahrain earlier this month at which she addressed him directly from the stage and said it was time for Tehran to deal seriously with concerns about its nuclear program.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator is Saeed Jalili, who last week in Geneva agreed to another set of talks next month but restated Iran’s refusal to discuss a halt to uranium enrichment.