Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 28
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif has left Tehran for Turkey to attend the inauguration ceremony of the country's President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Heading a high-ranking delegation, Zarif is scheduled to take part the ceremony which will be held Aug. 28, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.
Senior officials from 65 countries including presidents of Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Albania, Somalia and Bulgaria will participate in the event. Representatives from a number of international organizations are also expected to attend the ceremony.
Erdogan has been the country's prime minister since 2003 and is to become the first ever directly-elected president following his Aug 10 election victory.
Iran's foreign minister will then pay an official visit to Moscow for talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and other officials that are expected to focus on Iran's nuclear program.
Zarif will also visit Brussels on Sept. 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 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 until Nov. 24 to clinch a final deal on Tehran's nuclear energy program.