EU’s Ashton: E3+3 to resume talks with Iran

The EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, has announced that the E3+3 group (UK, US, France, Germany, Russia and China) will resume talks with Iran on the nuclear issue. According to a press release from UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ashton said: “The UK, US, France, Germany, Russia and China have carefully considered Iran’s latest response to Baroness Ashton. We all agree that the international community should demonstrate its commitment to a diplomatic solution by acknowledging Iran’s agreement to meet, by testing its desire to talk and by offering it the opportunity to respond to our legitimate concerns about its nuclear intentions.” Ashton also said that the onus will be on Iran to persuade the international community about the peaceful purposes of its nuclear programme “by taking concrete action”. “If it does so, then we have always been ready to respond positively by offering assistance with the development of Iran’s civil nuclear power stations, and extending co-operation in other areas from political relations to economic development, as the E3+3 have consistently offered since 2008,” the EU representative concluded.