Iran’s Zarif Engaged in Active Diplomacy in Germany
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held diplomatic meetings with foreign politicians on the sidelines of the 51st Munich Security Conference on Saturday, with Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program as the main topic of most of the meetings.
On Saturday, Zarif had a bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich.
Russia is one of the six world powers engaged in nuclear talks with Iran.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) are in talks to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
In a separate meeting in Munich, Foreign Minister Zarif met Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano. They discussed cooperation between Iran and the UN nuclear agency as well as the course of nuclear talks between Tehran and six powers.
The top Iranian diplomat is also scheduled to hold a meeting with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini today.
The EU foreign policy chief is tasked with coordinating diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3).
Moreover, Zarif is expected to meet British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Lebanon Prime Minister Tamma Salam as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday.
Back on Friday, the top Iranian diplomat met US Secretary of State John Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier separately to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program.
Following an interim nuclear deal signed between Iran and the six powers in Geneva in November 2013, two deadlines for a final, comprehensive deal have been missed, and now a third one is looming on July 1.