Iran, US Negotiators Start Bilateral Nuclear Talks in Geneva
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Deputy foreign ministers of Iran and the United States met today in the Swiss city of Geneva to hold talks on Tehran's peaceful atomic energy program.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and his American counterpart Wendy Sherman started bilateral talks to discuss a long-awaited deal on Tehran’s nuclear issue, soon after three rounds of meetings between the two countries’ foreign ministers.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks with the US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the upcoming nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the six world powers.
Araqchi announced today that the eight hours of talks between Zarif and Kerry were “very intensive, straightforward, and serious”. US State Department officials have also said that Kerry and Zarif held “substantive" talks in the Swiss city.
Meanwhile, Kerry said today that he may meet his Iranian counterpart again in Paris on Friday.
Zarif is on a European tour aimed at accelerating negotiations between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (five permanent members of UN Security Council including the US, UK, France, Russia, China, plus Germany).
He is due to meet his German and French counterparts as well as the European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini.
Later on January 18, Iran and the group of six world powers will resume talks at the level of deputy foreign ministers.
Zarif announced on Thursday that the two sides of negotiations should make best use of the opportunity.
Negotiations between Iranian officials and the sextet aim to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.