In what seems to be a historic diplomatic breakthrough, the United States and Iran have reportedly agreed for the first time to one-on-one negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, a New York Times report claims.
Quoting unnamed officials in the Obama administration, the report reveals that Iran has agreed for direct talks on its nuclear programs, but insisted that the talks wait until after U.S. elections on Nov. 6.
The news of possible direct talks on the nuclear issue came at a critical time with just two weeks to go for the election day and just one week from the last round of public debates between the presidential candidates, which will largely focus on national security and foreign policy.
While news expects to help Obama for successfully bringing Iran to the discussion table after years of diplomatic deadlock, it remains to see if Romney will go ahead with the negotiations if he won the election. Romney was very vocal in his opposition against Obama for showing weakness on Iran and failing to stand firm with Israel.
Iran has maintained its disputed nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes while the Western states are growing suspicious that this move is an attempt to amass nuclear weapons. The tension has mounted to the point where the U.S. and Israel had indicated a possible attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure to prevent it from making a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the White House denied that it has agreed to one-on-one talks with Tehran after the election.
"It's not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections," Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman, said.
However he did not deny the New York Times report
"From the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally," he said.
