EU’s Ashton Invites Sextet FMs to Join Iran Nuclear Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who liaises with Iran on behalf of six world powers over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program, has invited foreign ministers of the negotiating parties to join the talks in Vienna, her spokesman announced.
“EU's Ashton has invited E3+3 FMs who are available to come to Vienna on Sunday to take stock of where we are in talks,” Michael Mann said in a message on his Twitter account on Thursday.
Delegates from Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) have launched a new round of nuclear talks in the Austrian capital since July 2 in a bid to hammer out a comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear case.
This round of talks is expected to run until at least July 15. With time running short, the two sides have now less than ten days to clinch a deal by their self-imposed deadline that expires on July 20.
In the meantime, the US has announced it will send its highest-ranking diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, to Vienna this weekend for a meeting of Iran and the six powers.
"The Secretary will gauge the extent of Iran's willingness to commit to credible and verifiable steps that would back up its public statements about the peaceful nature of its nuclear program," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement on Thursday.
In another sign of possible breakthrough in the talks, a French diplomatic source said Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will travel to Vienna on Sunday, July 13, to assess the state of negotiations.
Fabius and officials from the world powers will "evaluate the situation" in the talks, according to the source.
The source, however, did not specify which other foreign ministers would go to Vienna.
On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said that possible presence of foreign ministers in Vienna will be aimed at “getting informed about the process of negotiations and continuing consultations.”
She had also cited a “slow progress” in the talks, saying the two sides have come to discuss the topics on which they have “essential differences”.
Iran and the sextet on November 24, 2013, clinched an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The breakthrough agreement (the Joint Plan of Action), which has come into effect since January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.
