German FM hails President Rouhani’s speech at UN

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle hailed President Hassan Rouhani’s address to the UN General Assembly, describing it as highly good and appropriate. Westerwelle made the remarks in an interview with German TV network ZDF. He termed President Rohanis speech at the UN very good with appropriate and new tone, and praised it. Westerwelle said change in Iran’s tone has created very constructive atmosphere for beginning a serious negotiation, adding that West wants to use such constructive atmosphere to find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem. He also called his talks with Iran’s President Hassan Rohani very useful and constructive, adding that new nuclear talks between the West and Iran is an important turning point. German Foreign Minister met with President Rohani in New York on Tuesday. During the meeting, Rouhani urged Berlin to play a more active role in settling Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West. “I hope that Germany will play an effective role in the settlement of Iran’s nuclear issue,” President Rouhani told Westerwelle on the sidelines of the 68th Session of the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday. He reiterated that both Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) should speed up the trend of talks to achieve better results. The Iranian president pointed to the US-led West's unilateral sanctions against Iran, and said, “We are against oppressive and unilateral sanctions because they are illegal and inhumane.”