Iranian Negotiators in Vienna for New Round of Nuclear Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian team of nuclear negotiators, led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, arrived in Vienna on Tuesday to hold a fresh round of talks with the representatives of six world powers on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
The Austria's capital of Vienna, home to one of the four headquarters of the United Nations, is geared up to once again host nuclear negotiators representing Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, the US, Britain, China, France and Germany) for another round of high-profile nuclear talks, due to kick off as early as Wednesday.
A group of legal experts accompany the Iranian delegation.
Later tonight, the Iranian chief negotiator and foreign minister, Zarif, is scheduled to attend a dinner banquet with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who liaises with Iran on behalf of the six countries.
The two sides have already held several rounds of talks with the aim of putting an end to the decade-long standoff on the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear activities.
Iran and the G5+1 (alternatively known as P5+1 or E3+3) on November 24, 2013, clinched an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The breakthrough agreement (the Joint Plan of Action), which has come into effect since January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.
Following the Geneva deal, they convened another meeting in Vienna from February 18 to 20 in order to discuss the priorities for the future negotiations and work out a framework for an ultimate and comprehensive agreement.
Afterwards, the Austrian city once again brought delegates from the seven nations together on March 18-19, in order to discuss Iran's uranium enrichment program, the country's Arak heavy-water reactor and the western sanctions against Tehran.
They once again gathered in Vienna on April 8 and 9 to further narrow differences and move closer to an ultimate, comprehensive nuclear accord.
In comments following the April talks, Zarif had announced that the parties “have reached the halfway stage of the nuclear negotiations.”
And now, the negotiating parties are preparing to launch a new round of talks in the presence of the high-profile political directors on Wednesday.
The negotiating parties have set an agenda for drafting the text of the long-expected agreement in the forthcoming talks as part of efforts to resolve the standoff on Iran’s nuclear case once and for all.
