Iran’s Zarif, US’s Kerry to Meet in Vienna
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry are planned to hold a bilateral meeting in Vienna for talks on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in an emailed statement late on Thursday that Kerry will travel to Vienna, where Iran and the six world powers (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) are holding a new round of nuclear negotiations.
Kerry will also hold talks in Vienna with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Harf said.
He "will see if progress can be made on the issues where significant gaps remain and assess Iran's willingness to make a set of critical choices at the negotiating table" and then "make recommendations" to President Barack Obama on the next steps, she explained.
Delegates from Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) 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 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.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague has also unveiled plans to join his counterpart in Vienna on Sunday over Iran’s nuclear program.
"I will join (US Secretary of State) John Kerry and other foreign ministers in Vienna this weekend to review progress of Iran negotiations," Hague said in a message on Twitter.
Germany has also confirmed Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s attendance in the talks.
But Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appears not to take the time to travel to Austria.
On Friday, Itar Tass cited Russian Permanent Representative in international organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov as saying that Lavrov will not take part in a July 13 meeting between ministers in Vienna.
“The minister will not participate in talks, I am instructed to participate in this meeting,” Voronkov said, noting that "Lavrov is accompanying Russia's President Vladimir Putin in his visits to Latin American states".
And finally, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said he had “no specific information about which Chinese official will go, but we will send an official of some level to the meeting.”
