The United States on Friday welcomed the planned renewal of negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Iran seeking to end an international impasse over Tehran's nuclear programs. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey also urged Iran to agree to meet U.N. demands that it suspend its nuclear enrichment program so that multilateral talks on the issue can begin. Casey was responding to announcements in Brussels and Tehran that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will hold new talks April 25 with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani. “Certainly, we support those continued contacts between Mr. Solana and Mr. Larijani,” Casey told reporters, noting that Solana is the representative of the so-called “P5-plus-1” group which has been pressing Iran to halt enrichment. The group comprises Germany and the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council-the United StatesChina, Britain, France, and Russia. “What we would hope would come out of that meeting would be an agreement by the Iranians to meet the very simple terms and conditions laid out by the international community that would allow us to begin negotiations with them on their nuclear program,” Casey said.
