Zarif, Kerry to Meet in Switzerland on Thursday
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif plans to meet his US counterpart John Kerry in the Swiss city of Lausanne Thursday to start a new round of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear energy program.
“Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Lausanne, Switzerland to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif on March 26th as part of the ongoing EU-coordinated P5+1 negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program,” US State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in a press conference on Monday.
The announcement came after diplomats from Iran and six powers wrapped up six days of negotiations on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program in Lausanne on Friday and agreed to resume the talks this week.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) are in talks to hammer out a comprehensive accord by a June 30 deadline that would end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s civilian nuclear activities.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had said that remaining differences in the nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers could have been resolved in the latest round of negotiations in Lausanne, but the parties felt the need for more time.
Rouhani said the parties managed to reach a mutual understanding on some issues that could be “the basis of a final deal”, but at the same time noted that differences still remain.
