Zarif, Ashton to Meet Again for Nuclear Talks in Vienna
VIENNA (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is heading the country’s nuclear team will hold another meeting with European Union foreign policy chief, Catherin Ashton in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Thursday morning, said Michael Mann, Ashton’s spokesperson.
The meeting with Ashton, who coordinates diplomacy with Iran on behalf of six world powers, comes as part of negotiations over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.
The Vienna negotiations are aimed at drafting a comprehensive deal to resolve the decade-long standoff over Tehran's peaceful nuclear energy program.
Drafting the final deal is underway, Mann wrote on his twitter page.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister and the country’s senior nuclear negotiator said Tehran and six world powers have already begun drafting a final deal over the country's peaceful nuclear program, but at the same time noted that the talks are tough.
Speaking to reporters in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday evening, Mohammad Javad Zarfi said the title of the agreement is ‘joint comprehensive plan of action’.
The Iranian chief negotiator said the start of the drafting does not mean that agreement has been made in all fields.
There still remain basic differences between the two sides and the nuclear talks are “very tough,” he noted.
He further said the other side has taken some “completely unacceptable” positions, and asked the major world powers to take "realistic" approach towards the issue.
As regards possibility of a final deal, Zarif said if the other side shows political will, a comprehensive deal can be made by July 20 deadline.
Iran and the six world powers inked an interim deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva last November, which came into force on January 20. Under the interim deal until July 20, the parties will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of all anti- Iran sanctions which had been imposed on Tehran by US and EU as well as UN Security Council.
