"The aim of our efforts is to achieve a comprehensive and long-term settlement which would restore international confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, while respecting Iran's legitimate rights to the peaceful use of atomic energy."
VOA: standard.2010.06.09
During a recent call between states officials and the banks, some lenders said they opposed any settlementterm that would reduce loan balances, according to one of the people familiar with the talks.
"The objective of the EU remains to achieve a comprehensive, negotiated, long-term settlement which restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme, while respecting Iran's legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, " the EU statement said.
President Obama seems to hope he can achieve a historic Middle East settlement within his first term and this ambitious goal puts him on a collision course with Mr Netanyahu's government, our correspondent says.