US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that if Iran takes rapid measures to cooperate with international monitoring of its nuclear program, Washington could begin lifting sanctions within months.
Speaking to CBS News flagship 60 Minutes he said Iran should, for example, open up its Fordow underground nuclear facility to international inspection and undertake the task of scaling down the level to which it enriches uranium.
"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 be doing with its program," he said.
But, asked by his interviewer whether Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had been right to predict that a deal could be in place within three to six months, Kerry replied: "Sure, it's possible."
"It's possible to have a deal sooner than that depending on how forthcoming and clear Iran is prepared to be," he said, according to a transcript provided by CBS.
Kerry's comments were broadcast after a day in which he had held a rare -- almost unprecedented -- encounter with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, and both took part in a meeting of the P5+1 Iran contact group.
Zarif and Rouhani were in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly and repeated their insistence that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.
The P5+1 talks are set to continue on October 15 and 16 in Geneva, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters after Thursday's talks.
Diplomats from the major countries described the atmosphere at Thursday's encounter in positive terms, but they, as well as the U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers, stressed the difficulty of resolving a dispute that has eluded solution for a decade.
"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, a U.S.-educated diplomat, also sounded a cautionary note and insisted on quick relief from the painful U.S., European Union and U.N. sanctions imposed for Iran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
"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 U.N. 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.
It was a very uncommon encounter between top officials of the United States and Iran, which have been estranged since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the U.S.-backed Shah.
A State Department official said it was the highest-level "official" meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials since before the Iranian revolution, although there had been "informal" interactions at the same level in the past 10 to 12 years."
Both Kerry and counterparts from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany described their meeting with Zarif on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly as "a change in tone" from encounters with Iran's previous, hardline government.
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 Oct. 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."
HANDSHAKE OR NO HANDSHAKE
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.
"Secretary Kerry ... is a man of great politeness, so it would be surprising if they didn't do that," she said.
"We all shook hands and we all smiled," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after the meeting on Iran.
The New York talks involved the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Britain, France, Russia, China, the United States - and Germany, known as the P5+1.
Beforehand, Kerry said he looked forward to the first meeting involving the newly elected Iranian government of centrist President Hassan Rouhani, but would not specify what Iran should do to show it was serious about addressing concerns about its nuclear program.
A moderate cleric, Rouhani has stepped up efforts to improve Iran's image abroad during his visit to New York this week. He has said that Iran would never develop nuclear weapons and called for a nuclear deal in three to six months.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday cautiously embraced Rouhani's gestures as the basis for a possible nuclear deal and challenged him to demonstrate his sincerity.
But the failure to orchestrate a handshake between the two leaders, apparently because of Rouhani's concerns about a backlash from hardliners at home and perhaps Obama's concerns about the possibility of a failed overture, underscored how hard it will be to make diplomatic progress.
Even without making any real concessions so far, Rouhani has offered a softer, more reasonable tone than his stridently anti-U.S. predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The sanctions imposed on Iran have begun to bite severely.
Iranian oil exports have fallen by about 60 percent in the past two years as the EU stopped purchases and most Asian buyers drastically cut imports because of the sanctions. Iran is now earning only around $100 million from oil sales a day as opposed to $250 million two years ago.
The six powers said in February they wanted Iran to stop enrichment of high-grade uranium, ship out some stockpiles and shutter a facility where such enrichment work is done. In return, they offered relief on international sanctions on Iran's petrochemicals and trade in gold and other precious metals.
U.S. officials say that offer remains on the table.
But signaling some of the obstacles that could hamper any new diplomacy, Iran on Thursday sharply criticized the U.N. nuclear watchdog over "baseless allegations" about its atomic activity.
It was an apparent reference to the International Atomic Energy Agency's concerns, spelled out in a series of quarterly reports, about what it calls the possible military dimensions to Iranian nuclear activities.
Information from Reuters and AFP was used in this report.
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