EU foreign policy chief says will keep urging Iran to cooperate on nuclear program

TEHRAN,June 19(MNA) – EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton pledged on Monday during a trip to Baghdad to press Iran for greater cooperation over its nuclear program after Tehran elected a new president, AFP reported. “I will continue to do my work to urge Iran to work closely with me, and the E3+3, to build confidence in the nature of their nuclear program,” Ashton told journalists in Baghdad, referring to the group of global powers that are negotiating with Iran over the program. It comes just days after moderate cleric Hassan Rohani was declared Iran’s new president, with world powers offering a cautious welcome. Western powers and Israel claim the program is being used to develop an atomic bomb, but Iran insists it is for peaceful purposes. Ashton had previously said that she was committed to working with Rohani to find a “swift diplomatic solution” to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Ashton serves as chief negotiator for the six world powers -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.