Iranian, US Diplomats in Geneva for Bilateral Nuclear Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Senior negotiators representing Iran and the US gathered in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday to launch a three-day round of talks over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.
The talks are part of regular bilateral meetings between Iran and the members of the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) which are negotiating to settle a decade-long standoff on Tehran’s nuclear work.
The Iranian team is led by Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi, while the US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman head the American delegation.
These nuclear talks come ahead of a forthcoming meetings among the seven nations, which are expected to continue negotiations on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, due to be held in New York later this month.
On Wednesday, the US State Department announced that the Geneva talks between Iranian and American diplomats will be chaired by the outgoing European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who still coordinates diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3).
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.
