Iranian, US Top Diplomats Meet for Second Day in Vienna
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday held a meeting in Vienna, Austria, for the second consecutive day to pave the way for a comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear program before a July 20 deadline.
The meeting at Vienna’s Palais Coburg hotel was part of extensive diplomatic efforts to strike a long-awaited nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
Zarif and Kerry had on Sunday met for two hours to narrow down differences with the deadline for a deal just a week away.
The Iranian top negotiator said on Sunday after a couple of meetings with foreign ministers from the US, Britain, France and Germany that “our team is ready to work with the maximum speed during the remaining seven days to reach the deal that we are all after.”
Revealing “some extent of progress” in the nuclear talks, Zarif had called on the whole parties to work hard in the days before a July 20 deadline rather than “defining red lines”.
Meanwhile, a senior official with the US State Department said Kerry wants to "gauge Iran's willingness to make the critical choices it needs to make" in his bilateral meetings with Zarif.
"The Secretary will take the time necessary to have that discussion, and that's why they will be meeting again today, to see if progress can be made," the official said on Monday, before the second one-on-one meeting between Zarif and Kerry.
Delegates from Iran and the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) have launched this 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 a week to clinch a deal by their self-imposed deadline that expires on July 20.