Zarif, Ashton to Hold Joint Press Conference Later Today
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton are to hold a joint press conference on Thursday.
The joint press conference will come after the final meeting of the Vienna talks this morning.
Zarif and Ashton held two meetings in Vienna on Wednesday. Their second meeting came after the two consulted with their negotiating teams following talks on Wednesday between the Iranian delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi and representatives of the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, France, Britain and China plus Germany).
The two negotiating teams discussed the priorities for the future negotiations and working out a framework for an ultimate and comprehensive agreement on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Araqchi on Wednesday had stated that the talks that started in the Austrian capital on Tuesday were held in a positive atmosphere.
He said the next round of negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) will be held from March 17 to 20 in Vienna.
On November 24, 2013, Tehran and the sextet of world powers 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.
