Iran, G5+1 to Resume Expert-Level Talks in Vienna
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A delegation of Iranian negotiators left Tehran for the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday to attend a new round of expert-level talks between Iran and six world powers over the country’s peaceful nuclear program.
Hamid Baeedinejad, the director general for political and international affairs at Iran’s foreign ministry, leads the Iranian delegation in the expert-level talks which are due to resume on Wednesday.
During the talks, representatives of the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) will be led by Stephen Clement, who is an aide to the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.
Last week, top diplomats from Iran, the US, and the EU held trilateral meetings in Vienna to iron out differences and secure an agreement between Tehran and the G5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) in a bid to put an end to the West’s 12-year-old standoff on Tehran’s nuclear case.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the G5+1 signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Based on the interim deal, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran’s decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities.
In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal.
