Iranian President Hassan Rohani has announced the Foreign Ministry will lead nuclear talks with world powers.

The announcement was made on September 5 on the president’s website. No further details were provided, but the arrangement suggests Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will either lead future negotiations or appoint another ministry official.

Zarif, a former Iranian envoy to the United Nations, is viewed as a political moderate.

Talks have previously been conducted by the head of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council, and the announcement suggests future nuclear talks would be more directly handled by the government.

Tehran has been holding negotiations over its disputed nuclear program with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States — plus Germany.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it will hold a new round of negotiations with Iran on September 27 in Vienna — the first such talks since Rohani was elected president.

The West suspects Iran seeks to produce a nuclear bomb. Tehran denies the claim.
By RFE/RL’s Radio Farda