US-Iran thaw after 3 decades

NEW YORK: The top diplomats from the United States and Iran met privately early Friday on the sidelines of a larger negotiating session about Iran’s disputed nuclear program, marking the highest-level discussion in years between two nations that have been firm adversaries for more than three decades.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called their talks productive and constructive. The group of nations that have negotiated intermittently with Iran over its nuclear ambitions agreed to meet again in about three weeks in Switzerland for what Kerry called more-substantive work.
“I think all of us were pleased that Foreign Minister Zarif came and made a presentation to us, which was very different in tone and very different in the vision that he held out, with respect to the possibilities for the future,” Kerry told reporters.
Zarif, speaking in English, followed Kerry to the podium and said he welcomed the opportunity to try to address international doubts about Iran’s nuclear intentions.
“We hope to be able to make progress toward resolving this issue in a timely fashion based on respecting the rights of the Iranian people to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” Zarif said, “and at the same time making sure that there is no concern at the international level that Iran’s nuclear program is anything but peaceful.”