Iran-G5+1 Fresh Talks to Kick off Tomorrow

The two-day talks between Iran and the G5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain, France as well as Germany) over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program are set to begin tomorrow after the two sides held a previous round of talks in the same Swiss city on October 15 and 16.

Iranian team of negotiators, comprised of five members and led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, is now in Geneva.

During the October talks, Iran presented a three-step plan with the aim of bringing the standoff over its nuclear program to an end.

The Iranian plan's formal name was "An End to the Unnecessary Crisis and a Beginning for Fresh Horizons."

The two sides held four rounds of talks in the previous meeting. And the final round was attended by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is also Iran's top nuclear negotiator, and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who oversees diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the six world powers.

Negotiators from Iran and the G5+1 also issued a joint statement at the end of those talks, which both described as “substantive”.

“Delegations of the EU3+3 and the Islamic Republic of Iran, led respectively by the EU high representative for foreign and security policy and the foreign minister of the Islamic republic of Iran, held two days of substantive and forward-looking negotiation in Geneva on 15th, 16th October 2013,” read part of the statement.

Thereafter, the two sides held two days of expert-level talks in Austria’s capital city of Vienna on October 30-31.

Nuclear and sanctions experts from Iran and the six world powers attended those meetings. The Iranian delegation also included experts from the banking, trade, oil and transportation sectors.

Hamid Ba’eedinejad, the Iranian foreign ministry’s director general for political affairs, led the country’s seven-member team of experts during the two-day meeting.

In his latest comments, Iran’s foreign minister said in a Tuesday interview with France 24 TV that a framework deal could be reached in the upcoming nuclear talks between Iran and the six major world powers in Geneva.

"I believe it is even possible to reach that agreement this week but I can only talk for our side, I cannot talk for the other side," Zarif said.

He also stated that a deal would be possible with political will on all sides, but it would not be “a disaster” if “a breakthrough at this round” is not made.

"I believe there is a lot of work to be done. We have made some progress, but there is a great deal of mistrust in Iran concerning the attitude, behavior and approach of some members of the G5+1," Zarif said.

The Iranian team for the November 7-8 talks includes Deputy Foreign Minister for Euro-American Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi, Director General for International Political Affairs Hamid Ba’eedinejad, Legal Adviser to Foreign Minister Davoud Mohammadnia and Mohammad Amiri from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).

Like the previous round of talks, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif heads the team of Iranian negotiators.

Iran has said any talks of accepting the Additional Protocol and reducing the scale of uranium enrichment is part of the third stage of its proposed plan, whose details have been kept under wraps.

The additional protocol allows reinforced and unannounced inspections of a country's nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency and requires that information be provided on all activities regarding the nuclear fuel cycle.

Iran, a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, voluntarily implemented the additional protocol between 2003 and 2005 but ceased to apply it after its nuclear case was sent to the United Nations Security Council.