Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 15
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
The Iranian foreign minister and his US counterpart, John Kerry held 8-hours of concise, clear and serious negotiations over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Abbas Araqchi said.
Araqchi, who is a senior member of Iranian nuclear delegation said that the sides reviewed all topics related to the nuclear case and exchanged the latest viewpoints, Iran's official IRIB news agency reported Jan. 15.
Araqchi added that during the discussion of some topics, other experts joined the high-ranking officials.
The Iran-US bilateral negotiations will continue on Jan. 15 at the level of deputy foreign ministers, Araqchi said.
Iranian FM will leave Geneva for Berlin, Germany on Jan. 15 to meet his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier as first step of his tour to several EU countries including France, Araqchi added.
Zarif will also meet the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels, Belgium.
While commenting about the atmosphere of the ongoing negotiations, Araqchi said that the two sides have willingness to achieve a comprehensive nuclear deal.
"However achieving a settlement which convinces the both parties is difficult and we are still away from that," Araqchi added.
It is still early to judge about the results of the negotiations, the senior diplomat underlined.
The Zarif-Kerry meeting in Geneva aimed at accelerating pace of negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 group (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).
The 12th round of negotiations with P5+1 is scheduled for Jan. 18 in Geneva.
The Iranian and American delegations will continue their bilateral negotiations until Jan. 17.
Iran will also hold bilateral meetings with other members of the P5+1.
Talks between Iran and the P5+1 group have been extended until July 1, 2015 to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement.
After the sides failed to meet the 24 Nov. 2014 deadline they also extended the Geneva nuclear deal, which was signed in November 2013 for providing Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities.
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