Iran, Germany to hold direct nuclear talks in Tehran

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 10

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Iran and Germany will hold direct talks on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program in Tehran on June 15.

Director of Political Affairs Department of Germany's foreign ministry, Hans-Dieter Lucas who heads German delegation in the P5+1 group is scheduled to visit Tehran on June 15, to meet with Iranian delegation, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on June 10.

Tehran and the P5+1 (the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China - plus Germany) have been discussing ways to iron out differences and start drafting a final deal on Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

In November 2013, the two sides signed a six-month interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva that came into force on January 20.

Iran also will hold bilateral talks with other members of the group to prepare the upcoming round of nuclear talks with P5+1 which is scheduled for June 16-20 in Vienna.

Currently nuclear delegations from Iran and the United States are holding two-day bilateral nuclear negotiations in Geneva.

Bilateral discussions between France and Iran will take place on June 11 in Geneva.

After these discussions, there will also be discussions between the Iranians and the Russians in Rome this week.

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical research instead.