Zarif: Technical, Bilateral Meetings Needed to Reach Common Basis
VIENNA (Tasnim) - Iran’s Foreign Minister and top nuclear negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif said technical and bilateral meetings are needed to set up a common basis for drafting a joint document in nuclear negotiations between Tehran and world six powers.
Zarif made the comments following a working launch with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherin Ashton in the Austrian capital Vienna on Monday.
He described the meeting as positive and said the two sides agreed to hold a general meeting to review the main topics related to Tehran's nuclear energy program.
“Then we will need to hold technical and bilateral meetings to see whether the common basis for drafting a joint document is prepared or not, the top Iranian diplomat told reporters in Vienna.
Zarif and Ashton are to hold a trilateral meeting with the American negotiators later on Monday.
Upon arrival in Vienna, Zarif said that the nuclear talks between Tehran and six world powers could yield results if the sextet takes a realistic approach.
He also emphasized that the five-day talks will exclusively cover the nuclear issue.
The Iranian foreign minister described this phase of diplomacy as serious and underscored that “Tehran will not move beyond its redlines.”
Zarif also said there is enough time for the two sides to finalize a nuclear deal.
Iranian negotiating team is in Vienna to hold the fifth round of the nuclear negotiations with the sextet. This round of talks is aimed at drafting a comprehensive deal to settle the decade-long standoff over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
The Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi will head the Iranian delegations in this week’s negotiations which will be attended by Ashton’s Deputy Helga Schmid, and the US representatives Nicolas Burns, Wendy Sherman, and the US Vice President National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) inked an interim deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva last November, which came into force on January 20.
