US Team Due in Vienna Wednesday for Iran Nuclear Talks


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman will lead her country’s delegation to Vienna on Wednesday, May 13, to join the next round of negotiations to finalize a deal on Tehran’s nuclear energy program, the US State Department announced.

The American team, which includes a representative of President Barack Obama's National Security Council and experts on arms control, non-proliferation, economic sanctions and energy, will depart for the Austrian capital city on Wednesday.

Iran and the European Union said in a statement last week that the talks aimed at hammering out a final deal by a self-imposed deadline of June 30 are to resume Tuesday in Vienna.

The EU negotiator Helga Schmid and her Iranian counterparts would kick off the talks, with political leaders of the other world powers involved in the negotiations joining in on May 15, the statement said.

The talks in Vienna will run for four days and the sessions on Tuesday will mainly be devoted to consultations between Iranian deputy foreign ministers and EU’s Schmid.

The EU coordinates diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Technical experts will also hold talks in Vienna during the four days.

Iran and the six powers are in talks to hammer out a lasting accord that would end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program.

On April 2, the two sides reached a framework nuclear agreement in Lausanne, Switzerland, with both sides committed to push for a final deal until the end of June.

Later on April 30, diplomats from Iran and the EU launched another round of nuclear talks in New York, on the sidelines of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to draft the long-awaited accord.

Meantime, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday said a great deal of mutual understanding has been developed in the nuclear talks, reiterating that a final agreement depends on whether the other side will show the necessary determination.