Zarif Consults with British Counterpart on Iran's Nuclear Issue
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in a phone conversation on Saturday discussed the latest developments in nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers.
Zarif made the phone call from the Swiss city of Geneva, where he had started his European visit aimed at accelerating the trend of nuclear talks with the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UNSC members plus Germany).
Earlier, Zarif had announced that he would make phone conversations with his counterparts from the Group 5+1 (France, Britain, the United States, Russia, China, and Germany) as part of nuclear talks between Tehran and the Sextet.
Meanwhile, the Iranian negotiation team held meetings with US negotiators today in Geneva, and is slated to meet with Deputy European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid and Russian deputy foreign minister.
The latest round of negotiations kicked off on Wednesday with a meeting between Zarif and Kerry.
The Iranian top diplomat also met with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin and European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels.
Later on Friday, in his trip to the French capital, Paris, Zarif met with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius, and held his fourth meeting with US’s Kerry in three days.
On Sunday, January 18, representatives from Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 and E3+3) are scheduled to have a plenary meeting in Geneva.
Negotiations between Iran and the sextet aim to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
The two sides wrapped up their latest round of nuclear talks in the Swiss city on December 17, 2014, three weeks after they failed to reach a final agreement by a November 24 deadline despite making some progress. They agreed to extend their discussions until July 1.
