Second Day of Iran-Sextet Talks Kicks Off in Vienna
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Talks between delegations representing Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) entered the second day in a row in Vienna as the negotiating parties try to reach a final agreement on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
The fresh round of talks between Iran and the six world powers (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) has begun in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday morning.
The negotiations, which are aimed at resolving the West’s standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, commenced Tuesday with a symbolic meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who leads the team of Iranian negotiators, and the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who represents the six world powers.
The two sides concluded the first session of the negotiations after less than an hour on Tuesday.
Afterwards, the Iranian team of nuclear negotiators, headed by the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi, had a meeting with the representatives of Germany, France and Britain (E3) later in the evening.
Later on, the Iranian negotiators attended a bilateral meeting with the US delegation, headed by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.
And minutes ago, the delegations representing Iran and the six powers once again sat at the table in pursuit of a final deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s Araqchi has attended today’s meeting, with European Union Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Maria Schmid on behalf of the other side.
It is the first round of high-level negotiations since a November interim deal, clinched between Iran and the G5+1.
On November 24, 2013, the two sides signed an interim six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The breakthrough deal (the Joint Plan of Action), which has come into effect since January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.
