Iran, US, EU Hold Trilateral Meeting in Vienna
VIENNA (Tasnim) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union’s negotiator on Iran, Catherine Ashton, held a trilateral meeting in Austria’s capital of Vienna for talks on Tehran’s nuclear case.
The trilateral meeting, which took place on Thursday night at Vienna’s Palais Coburg hotel, was part of the intensive diplomatic meetings in a fresh round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
This round of talks started on Tuesday and is expected to run until at least November 24, set as a deadline for clinching a final, comprehensive deal that would lead to a lifting of sanctions on Iran.
Before joining the other top diplomats in Vienna on Thursday, Kerry had paid a visit to Paris, where he met his counterparts from France and Saudi Arabia.
Moreover, top diplomats from some other members of the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) are expected to travel to Austria, a sign that underscores the significance of this round of diplomacy.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond are planned to arrive in Vienna on Friday to hold meetings with Zarif.
Iran and the six powers clinched a landmark interim deal in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24, 2013.
Under the Geneva deal, dubbed the Joint Plan of Action, the six countries undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for the Islamic Republic agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.
The Geneva Agreement expired in July, when the parties decided to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final accord.
