Iranian Diplomats Go to UN for NPT Review Conference, Nuclear Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A delegation of Iranian diplomats, led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left Tehran for New York on Sunday morning to attend a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference at the UN and also hold nuclear talks on the sidelines of the event.
Zarif is scheduled to deliver two speeches to the upcoming conference, one on April 27 on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) whose rotating presidency is assumed by Iran, and the second one on Tuesday, April 28.
The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear. Conferences to review the operation of the Treaty have been held at five-year intervals since it went into effect in 1970.
Also on the sidelines of the conference, the Iranian foreign minister will hold separate bilateral meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini to discuss a deal on Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) 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 after more than a week of intensive negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland, with both sides committed to push for a final deal until the end of June.
They also held a three-day round of talks in Vienna on April 22-24 and started drafting the text of the long-awaited agreement.
Speaking to reporters in Vienna on Friday, Iran’s senior negotiator Abbas Araqchi said the decision to resume the drafting process in New York was made given the fact that Iran’s whole “technical and disarmament experts” and those of other countries will be present in the NPT review conference.
