Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
A member of the Iran's nuclear negotiating team said that the date and venue for the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 will be determined in a meeting in Omani capital city of Muscat on Nov. 11.
The Iranian diplomat made the remarks while commenting on statements by Catherine Ray, the new spokesperson for the new EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, the Iranian official IRNA news agency reported Nov. 4.
Some western media outlets quoted Ray on Nov. 3 as saying the next round of Iran-P5+1 nuclear talks will start in Vienna on November 18.
The Iranian official said that the date and place of the next round of talks have not been agreed upon yet. The Iranian official confirmed that a trilateral meeting of Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the US Secretary of State John Kerry and outgoing EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton will be held in Muscat on Nov. 9 -10.
Earlier Iranian deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi said that the two issues regarding uranium enrichment and sanctions will be discussed in trilateral meetings.
Zarif, Kerry and Ashton had trilateral meetings on Oct. 14-16 and discussed disputed issues such as uranium enrichment extent, ways of lifting imposed sanctions and duration of the agreement.
Last November, Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on Jan. 20 and expired six months later. However, the parties agreed to extend their talks until Nov. 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.
The United States, France, Britain and Germany would like the number of enrichment centrifuges Iran maintains to be in the low thousands, while Tehran wants to keep tens of thousands in operation. It now has about 19,000 installed, of which about 10,000 are spinning to refine uranium.