Iran nuclear program settlement may take less than 6 months

The Iranian nuclear program issue settlement might take less than the three to six months, which Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview aired on a CBS TV program on Sunday evening. “It’s possible to have a deal sooner than that depending on how forthcoming and clear Iran is prepared to be,” Kerry said. He also said that if Tehran demonstrates to the international community that “it is a peaceful program, and we can all see that - the whole world sees that - the relationship with Iran can change dramatically for the better and it can change fast.” “Iran needs to take rapid steps, clear and convincing steps, to live up to the international community’s requirements regarding nuclear programs, peaceful nuclear programs,” Kerry stated. Answering a question what specific steps by Tehran Washington wanted to see, he said that the Iranian authorities could open for inspection their secret facility at Fordo, sign additional protocols to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and keep their uranium enrichment efforts at lower grades that were not suitable for military use. Kerry said that the recent contacts with Iranian have been “encouraging,” however, “words are not going to replace actions.” “What we need are actions that prove that we and our allies, our friends in the region, can never be threatened by this program,” said the U.S. secretary of state. With regard to sanctions against Iran, “the United States is not going to lift the sanctions until it is clear that a very verifiable, accountable, transparent process is in place, whereby we know exactly what Iran is going to be doing with its program,” Kerry noted. And if it happens, “of course,” the sanctions could be lifted, the U.S. state secretary stated.