Iran's Zarif, US Kerry meet in New York

Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after Zarif held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address a nuclear standoff between the two sides. Diplomats from the major countries described the atmosphere of the wider talks in positive terms, but they, as well as the US and Iranian foreign ministers, stressed the difficulty of resolving a dispute that has eluded solution for a decade, Reuters reported. "We had a very constructive meeting," Kerry told reporters after the talks at the United Nations, where he and Zarif had sat next to one another in a gesture that suggested a desire by both sides to explore how to ease their more than three-decade estrangement. But Kerry added, "Needless to say, one meeting and a change in tone, which was welcome, doesn't answer those questions yet and there is a lot of work to be done." The United States wants Iran to address questions about its nuclear program, which Washington and its allies suspect is a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, saying its program is for solely peaceful, civilian uses. Zarif also sounded a cautionary note and insisted on quick relief from the painful US, European Union and UN sanctions imposed for Iran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program, a right enshrined in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for all signatories. "I am satisfied with this first step. Now we have to see whether we can match our positive words with serious deeds so we can move forward," he told reporters. "Of course as we move forward, there has to be removal of sanctions and in the end game there has to be a total lifting of all sanctions and both bilateral sanctions, unilateral sanctions as well as multilateral sanctions and UN sanctions and we hope to be able to move in that direction within a short span of time." Kerry said Zarif had put some "possibilities" on the table, but stressed there was more work to be done. Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, has said he would like to see a deal with world powers in three to six months. Kerry told CBS it would be "possible to have a deal sooner than that depending on how forthcoming and clear Iran is prepared to be." The meeting was a very uncommon encounter between top officials of the United States and Iran, which have been estranged since the 1979 overthrow of the shah. A State Department official said it was the highest-level "official" meeting between US and Iranian officials since before the Iranian Islamic Revolution, although there had been "informal" interactions at the same level in the past 10 to 12 years. Kerry and counterparts from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany described their meeting with Zarif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly as "a change in tone". European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who chaired the meeting, told reporters it had been "a substantial meeting. Good atmosphere. Energetic." She said the two sides had agreed on an "ambitious timetable" to address Western concerns and would meet again in Geneva on October 15 and 16 "to pursue the agenda to carry on from today's meeting and to hopefully move this process forward." Ashton also added a note of caution, saying it was important to focus on "effective work that we do on the ground." Kerry was seen smiling at Zarif at the start of the meeting and Ashton hinted that he and Zarif shook hands, noting the two had sat side by side. The New York talks involved the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, France, Russia, China, the United States - and Germany, known as the P5+1.