US Ready To Be Flexible About Iran's Nuclear Past: Secretary Of State John Kerry

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry indicated that Iran would not have to answer questions about its past nuclear activities. This is believed to be a U-turn from a previous U.S. position that Iran would have to make full disclosures before economic sanctions against it would be lifted.

Kerry, who is recovering from a broken femur, said that Washington was not “fixated” on the Islamic republic justifying its past. “We’re not fixated on Iran specifically accounting for what they did at one point in time or another,” Iran's Press TV quoted Kerry as saying. “We have absolute knowledge with respect to the certain military activities they are engaged in.” He said that the United States was concerned about the future, not the past.

U.S. officials previously insisted that Iran must clarify unresolved questions related to its past nuclear activities. They said that in order to earn credibility, the Middle Eastern nation would have to answer all questions posed by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency.

The officials added that Iran’s answers would determine its fate about certain sanctions imposed by Western powers. Reuters reported that the IAEA was still seeking answers about the military portions of Iran’s nuclear history.

But according to Iran, its nuclear activities are absolutely peaceful. It also charged that the IAEA had fabricated evidence about Iran’s nuclear activities.

Kerry said the U.S. government should be flexible about Iran. He said that it was critical to know that Iran had stopped those activities, and that the discontinuation of Iran’s past activities was important for “going forward.”

Six world powers -- Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and the United States -- have set a June 30 deadline to finalize a nuclear deal with Iran, in which Iran would agree to disengage from nuclear activities. In return, Iran wants a lifting of economic sanctions enacted against it. An initial agreement between Iran and six world powers required Iran to answer all the unresolved questions raised by the IAEA.