Tehran, Iran, Nov. 23
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi held a meeting with US undersecretaries of state William Burns and Wendy Sherman.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid also attended the meeting, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on Nov. 23.
Araqchi and Takht-e-Ravanchi also held talks with the delegates from China and Russia.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is expected to hold a trilateral meeting with EU coordinator Catherine Ashton and US Secretary of State John Kerry later in the day.
They have been holding talks in Vienna over the past six days.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on October 22 that 90 percent of the negotiations have been completed and the two sides are taking the final steps.
According to Afkham, the two sides are not interested in extending the 24-November deadline set for striking a final and comprehensive deal.
Iran and P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council comprising of China, France, Russia, Britain, the US Plus Germany) sealed an interim deal in Geneva on November 24, 2013 to pave the way for the full resolution of the West's decade-old dispute with Iran over the country's nuclear energy program, Press TV reported.
The Geneva deal took effect on January 20 and expired on July 20. However the two sides agreed to extend their talks for four months till Nov. 24 to reach a permanent deal on Iran's disputed nuclear program.
In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the US and its allies agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran.