Zarif, Burns Hold Talks on Iran’s Nuclear Issue
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met in the Austrian capital of Vienna to narrow down differences over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
The meeting was held on Saturday afternoon ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Vienna on Sunday.
Kerry and foreign ministers of Russia, China, France, Germany and the UK have been invited to attend the ongoing negotiations, Press TV reported.
In the meantime, senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said Iran and the six world powers have made relative progress over the text of a final nuclear deal, completing about 60-65 percent of the text.
He stated that there are still differences between the two sides over major issues.
Delegates from Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) have launched a new round of nuclear talks in the Austrian capital since July 2 in a bid to hammer out a comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear case.
This round of talks is expected to run until at least July 15. With time running short, the two sides have now less than ten days to clinch a deal by their self-imposed deadline that expires on July 20.
Kerry arrived in Vienna in the early hours of Sunday after clinching a deal in Kabul with Afghanistan's presidential candidates to end the country's election crisis.