The United States is ready to work with Iran’s new centrist president, Hassan Rouhani, if his administration engages seriously in efforts to resolve the long-running standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, the US State Department said on Monday. “Secretary (of State John) Kerry welcomes the Foreign Minister’s commitment to a substantive response and to his agreement to meeting in the short term with permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany coordinated by EU High Representative (Catherine) Ashton to discuss the nuclear program,” State Department Jen Psaki said. Earlier Ashton said that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would meet with his counterparts from Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany later this week to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, which Western powers and their allies fear is aimed at development atomic weapons.
