Iran’s Zarif, EU’s Ashton to Meet on September 1
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton are scheduled to hold a meeting in the Belgian capital of Brussels on September 1 to evaluate the latest developments surrounding Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
“At the meeting between Zarif and Ashton, to be attended by the deputies of the two sides, the latest status of negotiations will be assessed,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday of the nuclear talks between Tehran and six world powers.
Ashton coordinates diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) to settle a decade-long standoff on Tehran’s nuclear case.
On Saturday, Zarif unveiled plans to start a three-leg tour of Europe within the next 10 days, which will take him to Italy, Luxemburg and Belgium, where he will meet Ashton.
According to earlier reports, representatives from Iran and the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the E3+3 or P5+1) are expected to hold a gathering on the sidelines of the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.
The 69th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 69) will convene at the UN headquarters in New York on September 16.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Araqchi made it clear that the next round of plenary talks between Iran and the sextet will be held prior to the UNGA.
On July 18, after more than two weeks of intensive diplomatic negotiations in Vienna, Iran and the six nations agreed to continue talks for another four months.
The two sides decided to extend the nuclear talks until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal. The four-month extension of the talks began on July 21.
