Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif on Thursday to discuss Iran's proposed nuclear program; the meeting was the first high level meeting between the two adversaries since 1979's Iranian revolution, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
The meeting represents the first step in what will be a long process as the United Nations and the west try to verify that the nuclear program being developed by Tehran is peaceful and aimed only to produce nuclear power plants, not nuclear weapons.
The hour long meeting was described by British Foreign Secretary William Hague as a "good start." Also attending the meeting were the foreign ministers of the U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany. An additional meeting was scheduled for Oct. 15 and 16 in Geneva, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"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 vision that he held out with respect to the possibilities of the future," Kerry said.
Zarif sounded equally optimistic about the meeting when talking to reporters afterwards, according to CNN.
"We hope to be able to make progress towards resolving this issue in a timely fashion based on respecting the rights of the Iranian people to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment," 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."
The new president of Iran, Hasan Rouhani, and his government have taken a very different approach to foreign policy than his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Rouhani seems to be taking a more moderate tone and is willing to engage with the west where as his predecessor preferred to be combative.
President Barack Obama said that keeping Iran's nuclear weapons program in check and brokering peace between Israel and Palestine are going to be the focus of his foreign policy for his second term, according to CNN.
"While these issues are not the cause of all the region's problems, they have been a major source of instability for far too long, and resolving them can help serve as a foundation for a broader peace," President Obama said.
