German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle says he hopes progress will be made in the talks over Iran’s nuclear energy program following the inauguration of Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani.
Speaking to German news agency DPA on Friday, Westerwelle described Rohani’s inauguration as an “opportunity” to clear the Western impasse over the Iranian nuclear activities.

The Iranian president-elect’s inauguration is scheduled to be held on August 4, one day after his endorsement by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Rohani secured an outright win in Iran’s June 14 presidential election. The voter turnout was 72.7 percent.

“We will seek dialog with the new government, first on the level of civil servants then perhaps on the minister level,” Westerwelle said.

He added that the West would then decide whether Rohani’s administration is showing “new flexibility” in relations.

The German minister, whose country is a member of the P5+1 group of world powers, called on Iran to take “confidence-building measures,” saying his country would like to see “substantial progress” in the P5+1 talks with Iran.

On July 19, a “senior Western diplomat” reportedly said that the election of Rohani as Iran’s next president can be “an opportunity” in the future talks between the P5+1 and Iran.

The diplomat added that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia, China, France, Britain, and the United States plus Germany - expect that Iran would “soon” appoint a new negotiating team, so the talks can resume “as soon as possible.”

The US, Israel and some of their allies falsely claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with Washington and the European Union using the unfounded allegation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on Iran.

Tehran strongly rejects the groundless claim over its nuclear activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

By Press TV

 

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