Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 23
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit Brussels on September 1, the first country within a European tour.
Zarif will meet with senior European officials on the eve of a round of nuclear talks with P5+1 which is scheduled for September, Iran's Mehr news agency reported Aug. 23.
The other European destinations as part of the official's visit have not been unveiled yet, however the report says that the visit will include three EU countries.
Iran's foreign minister will also pay an official visit to Moscow on Aug. 29 to meet with Russian officials including his counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Iran's media outlets quoted Mehdi Sanai, Iran's ambassador to Moscow as saying, that the regional and international issues, as well as the issues of mutual interest will be discussed during the meetings.
Iran and P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council comprising of China, France, Russia, Britain, the US Plus Germany) are likely to hold a new round of nuclear talks on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly Session in September.
The two sides have to clinch a final deal on Tehran's nuclear energy program until Nov. 24.
"Iran will definitely hold bilateral talks with the P5+1 group ahead of the scheduled [high-level] meeting between Zarif and the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and Americas' Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi said on Aug. 9.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has stated on numerous occasions that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical research instead.