Nuclear Talks to Resume in Vienna in Coming Days: Iran’s Negotiator
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior member of Iran’s negotiating team announced on Friday that the next round of talks between Tehran and world powers over the country’s nuclear energy program will likely be held in the Austrian capital of Vienna in coming days.
The exact date of the next week's talks has not been set yet, Seyed Abbas Araqchi told the IRIB, adding that the negotiations to finalize the text of a comprehensive deal over Tehran’s nuclear energy program will likely be held in Vienna again.
The latest round of talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UNSC members plus Germany) kicked off on Tuesday, and since then, several sessions have been held between negotiators from Iran, US, and the EU, which coordinates diplomacy on behalf of the sextet.
As regards the ongoing round of talks due to end on Friday, Araqchi said that a number of bilateral talks with the deputy foreign ministers of the Group 5+1 have been held on Thursday night and Friday morning.
He further noted that Tehran and world powers will have a review session to see where the talks are and how much is left to clinch a long-awaited deal until the self-imposed deadline of June 30.
The plenary session between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) is scheduled to be held on Friday afternoon in Vienna.
Araqchi, who is a deputy foreign minister, went on to say that the two sides are trying to reduce differences as much as possible until the point where ministers are required to attend the talks to make relevant political decisions.
“If we keep working like this, I think we will reach the point in two weeks,” he predicted.
The two sides are in talks to hammer out a lasting accord that would end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program.
On April 2, the two sides reached a framework nuclear agreement in Lausanne, Switzerland, with both sides committed to push for a final deal until the end of June.
