UN chief warmly welcomes interim agreement on Iran's nuclear program

UNITED NATIONS (Xinhua) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday warmly welcomed the interim agreement that has been reached in Geneva regarding the nuclear program of Iran.

Ban congratulated the negotiators "for the progress made in what could turn out to be the beginnings of a historic agreement for the peoples and nations of the Middle East region and beyond," said a statement issued here by his spokesperson on Saturday night.

The latest round of the Iran nuclear talks started on Wednesday. After intensive negotiations, the P5+1 group and Iran have reached a first-step agreement on Iran's nuclear program.

This was the third round of negotiations between Iran and the six countries - the five UN Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany, in more than a month.

In the statement, Ban urged the governments concerned to "do everything possible to build on this encouraging start, creating mutual confidence and allowing continued negotiations to extend the scope of this initial agreement."

Reaffirming his unswerving commitment to strengthening nuclear disarmament and the non-proliferation regime, the UN chief called on all members of the international community to support this process which, "if allowed to succeed, is likely to be to the long-term benefit of all parties."