Iran’s FM Leaves Tehran for New York
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif left Tehran for New York early on Tuesday to attend the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
During his stay in New York, the Iranian foreign minister is scheduled to pursue the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and world powers on July 14.
Zarif is also planned to meet with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini to discuss start of a fresh round of talks between Tehran and the EU.
The top Iranian diplomat will be accompanied by his deputy Abbas Araqchi as well as Hamid Baeedinejad, the director general for political and international affairs at Iran's foreign ministry.
Having just lost his mother, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi is planned to join the Iranian delegation later.
The first joint commission meeting between deputy foreign ministers of Iran and Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) will be held in New York on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, however the exact date for the meeting has not been yet set.
The joint commission, comprising representatives of Iran, Group 5+1, and the European Union (EU), is tasked with implementing the terms laid down in the JCPOA and its annexes.
Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he is set to meet his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York on the sidelines of the UN session.
“I will also be meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov in New York, a meeting with Foreign Minister Zarif regarding Iran and other things,” Kerry said Sunday.
Kerry added that a host of issues, including the implementation process of the July 14 nuclear agreement and the Syrian crisis will be discussed during his meeting with the Iranian foreign minister.
The 70th session of the UN General Assembly opened at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
Diplomats attending the session discuss a broad range of crucial issues, including human rights, disarmament, nuclear safety and global terrorism.
Meantime, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official, Mikhail Ulyanov, told RIA Novosti earlier that “there are plans that on September 22 a round of technical consultations of experts will take place in Vienna and on September 28, a P5+1 and Iran ministerial meeting is slated to be held in New York, but this schedule can theoretically change,” in an interview.
Iran and the Group 5+1 – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany (also known as P5+1 or E3+3)– on July 14 reached an agreement on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
