Zarif, Ashton Meet for Nuclear Talks: Mann
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the outgoing European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton have started a meeting in Belgium’s capital of Brussels for talks on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program, said Michael Mann, spokesperson for Ashton.
Ashton welcomes Zarif in Brussels at the headquarters of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels “for talks in framework of nuclear negotiations”, Mann wrote on his twitter page on Monday.
Earlier in the morning, Zarif left Tehran for Brussels as part of a three-leg tour of Europe which will later take him to Italy and Luxemburg as well.
Succeeded by Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, Ashton still coordinates diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) to settle a decade-long standoff on Tehran’s nuclear case.
Meanwhile, representatives from Iran and the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the E3+3 or P5+1) are expected to hold a gathering on the sidelines of the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.
The 69th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 69) will convene at the UN headquarters in New York on September 16.
On July 18, after more than two weeks of intensive diplomatic negotiations in Vienna, Iran and the six nations agreed to continue talks for another four months.
The two sides decided to extend the nuclear talks until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal. The four-month extension of the talks began on July 21.
