Iran and the six world powers, United States, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany, are meeting in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the curbing of Iran's nuclear power program, Reuters reported.
The six powers want Iran to "curb" their sensitive nuclear uranium enrichment and Iran wants to ease the tough energy and banking sanctions that have restricted their oil exports, according to Reuters.
European Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton is the six power's chairwoman for the talks, while Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif leads the Iranian delegation, CNN News reported.
According to BBC News, during the weekend Zarif posted on his Facebook page that the talks would be the "start of a difficult and relatively time-consuming way forward," but that he is hopeful by Wednesday an agreement will be reached.
The ambitions and spirits are high and optimistic since Iran elected President Hassan Rouhani in August, but many in the West still fear Iran is pursuing the development of nuclear bombs as weapons, although Iran continues to deny this claim, CNN reported.
The Geneva talks occurring now are the first since Rouhani's inauguration and is being seen by the parties as an opportunity to end years of turmoil, and standoff, over Iran's nuclear program, which has heightened the risk of war in the Middle East, Reuters reported.
A spokesman from Europe said the Iranian team put together a Powerpoint proposal called "Closing Unnecessary Crisis, Opening New Horizons" which received positive feedback and reception by the six powers, CNN reported. The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said the powers were receptive to the proposal and that details would be discussed later this afternoon.
Michael Mann, Ashton's spokesperson said an end result needs to be reached, and Iran needs to prove there is no military nuclear program, according to CNN.
"We have said we want Iran to engage constructively with proposals we have put forward. Or, if they want to, they can come up with their own proposals," Mann told CNN. "What matters is the end result -- that they address the international community's concerns about the purely peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program."
Aragchi is taking the lead role in negotiations and said Iran's proposal is "logical, balanced, and realistic," making it possible for all sides to take the first steps into an agreement, CNN reported. In subsequent comments made only to Iranian media, Araqchi said any final agreement should eliminate all sanctions on Iran and enable it to continue to enrich uranium, according to the ISNA news agency.
Aragchi has not, however, mentioned if Iran will give anything in return a part from a peaceful nuclear program and transparency and monitoring by the United Nations, Reuters reported. He also said that the religious banning of nuclear weapons will be used as a "confidence building step."
Among the optimism, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the international community should not relax too soon, and that the economic sanctions are the only reason Iran's leaders returned to the Geneva talks, according to BBC News.
"I think it would be a historic mistake to ease the sanctions when they are so close to achieving their goals," he said, according to BBC News. "Now is an opportune moment to reach a genuine diplomatic solution that peacefully ends Iran's military nuclear program."
