After decades of strained relations, a historic meeting between the United States and Iran has raised hopes of a breakthrough in stalled negotiations over the status of Iran's nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says he had a very constructive meeting with six world powers over its nuclear program, including US Secretary of State John Kerry at the United Nations in New York.
There has been limited diplomatic contact between Iran and the United States since 1979 when an Islamic revolution ousted the the Iranian Shah, Mohammad Reza.
The US refused to recognise the post-revolution government, with a hostage crisis in the US embassy in Iran further inflaming tensions.
Since then the development of Iran's nuclear program has come under intense scrutiny by the international community, with sanctions imposed over Iran's uranium enrichment program.
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In his recent address to the United Nations, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
He said Iran's program posed no threat to the international community.
"As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persists. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination."
Despite attempts to improve relations, the long-standing gap between the countries remains.
But after the New York meeting British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the steps by Iran for greater transparency and communication with the international community raised hopes that a peaceful and negotiated resolution could be reached.
"There has been agreement on detailed negotiations to take place within the next three weeks and so we will all take that forward energetically in the coming weeks and I think this has been a good start to that."
The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment program.
The meeting between Iran's foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif with the six major powers on Iran's nuclear program including the US, marked another attempt to try and find a solution to the issue.
Emerging from the meeting, European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Iran agreed to meet in Geneva next month for further talks.
"It was a substantial meeting. Good atmosphere. Energetic. We had a discussion about how we would go forward with an ambitious timeframe to see whether we can make progress quickly. "
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he's ready to lead the discussions to a mutually agreeable solution on what to do about Iran's nuclear energy program.
World powers will meet again on October 15 and 16 in Geneva.
