united nations, represented by ban ki-moon, the european union represented by high representative kathy ashton, the russian federation represented by the foreign minister survey lovrov and the united states represented by myself and our special envoys, met to review the situation in the middle east. jordanian foreign minister naser juda briefed on jordan's recent engagement, the quartet underscored its support for jordan's positive efforts. we remain committed to the goals that we outlined in new york last september. we agreed on the importance of continued financial international support for the palestinian authority including the need for $1.1 billion in immediate assistance. finally, we have begun discussing some of the transnational issues, piracy, food security, that affect so many millions of people throughout the world. we are also going to be discussing our shared framework to support the democratic transitions and promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth through the doville partnership in the middle east and north africa. so there is a lot for us to discuss and we have a full

first as outlined in kathy ashton's letter to iran, any conversation anywhere with iran has to begin with a disposition of their nuclear program. that is the number one issue. iran's response to her letter appears to acknowledge and accept that. second, we have been working with our colleagues and the p 5 plus 1 to set forth the actions we expect them to take that would have to be verifiable and sustainable. there has to be some guarantee to the international community that assuming they were willing to come into the compliance that they would do so in a way that was not reversible and not immediately reversible. we are a long way from having any assurance as to what iran would or would not do in the p 5 plus 1. i can assure you that there is not going to be any front loading of concessions on our part. this is going to be a very hard nosed negotiation. we are joined by the p 5 plus 1 in that kind of approach. >> everything cannot be a priority in the world although i'm sure everything is important. i want to call your attention to what's happening here in our own hemisphere and appr

kathy ashton on behalf of the p-5 plus one has said the p-5 plus one is ready to come back to the table. they're negotiating the timing and modalities. and so the expectation is that should happen before too long. and finally, on swift, i'm not the expert. and i certainly wouldn't want to get into a matter of technical interest that the treasury department is more expert on, but obviously, this is a positive step. it is one in a series of positive steps that have increased the pressure on the iranian banking and financial system in a way that i think is having real impact, real negative impact. >> thank you, madam ambassador. thank you, madam chairman. >> mr. dan. >> thank you, madam chairman. madam ambassador, good to be with you. just following up on representative cole's comments, i was one of the few folks on my side of the aisle to support the administration's retroactive action in libya on the house floor. i thought it was the correct thing to do. obviously, i had some questions about how we conducted the operation but i thought it was the right thing to do. but in that situation

i have been in close touch with kathy ashton who will be leading our efforts in istanbul. we are looking for concrete results and in a negotiation, we understand that the iranians will be asking for assurances or accents from us and we will certainly take those under consideration. i do think it is clear to everyone, certainly in the p-5 +1 and far beyond, that the diplomatic window for negotiations is open but will not remain open forever. therefore, time is a matter to be taken into account her. we want to get started this weekend. "we will certainly proceed in a very expeditious and diligent manner in a sustained way to determine whether there is the potential for an agreement. thank you all. >> thank you all very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> that adds of the eight leading industrial nations will be meeting may 18 and 19th at camp david in maryland from the country include britain, canada, japan, france, and the united states. in about an hour-and-a-half, we will be live once ag

with regard to the middle east and north africa where we have an extensive ongoing dialogue with kathy ashtonnd her team, in which we have tried to a certain degree -- there so much to be done, and the e.u., for example, has taken the lead in tunisia and we said that's terrific. we will support the. we will be involved but we'll understand that you'll be in the leading role. and so across the board on the air spring, the e.u. has been a very important partner. now, as you know there are issues at a level of principle but have not yet been resolved between nato and e.u. and what we're trying to do is come at a practical level, encourage the growth of cooperation to ensure operational effectiveness in a wide number of areas, and over time, reach agreeing on some of those principles that need to be resolved. >> yes, along the front row. >> thank you. mark jacobson, formally of isaf. i'm very encouraged by what i'm hearing in terms of partnerships, that they said secretary-general rasmussen's comments in march 2011 in warsaw that threats emanating from outside europe and these are things nato has