The announcement of the talks planned for this week during the U.N. General Assembly in New York, raised hopes that the annual summit of world leaders could bring a thaw in relations between arch-enemies Iran and the United States.
U.S. officials have also said a meeting is possible this week between President Barack Obama and Iran`s new centrist president, Hassan Rouhani, who has shown an apparent desire to take a more conciliatory approach towards the West since taking office last month.
If that meeting were to happen, it would be the first between U.S. and Iranian government heads since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah, and could help ease tensions in the Middle East that have been worsening given the crisis in Syria.
Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a U.S. foe whose country has been torn by civil war since 2011.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited world leaders attending the General Assembly, including Rouhani and Obama, to attend an annual luncheon at the United Nations on Tuesday. That would be one possibility for the two men to meet briefly. Obama skipped last year`s U.N. luncheon, but the White House said he would attend this year.
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