Mann Describes Zarif-Ashton Talks as Substantial, Detailed
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton ended another meeting session in the Swiss city of Geneva in the second day of the fresh round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the six major world powers.
The just-concluded bilateral meeting between Zarif and Ashton on Thursday came after the two high-ranking officials held two other such sessions on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Zarif is also Iran’s top negotiator in the nuclear talks and Catherine Ashton oversees diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the six world powers.
"We entered the deatils of issues... but of course there are differences of opinion," said Zarif after the meeting.
Catherine Ashton's spokesman, Michael Mann, described the talks as substantial and detailed, adding that the two got down to detailed work and that they will resume talks at 14:30 Geneva time.
In a Wednesday message on his Facebook page, Zarif said that “serious and detailed talks” with Ashton on a potential “final agreement” will start on Thursday morning.
Iran and the G5+1 had a brief and introductory plenary session on Wednesday, focusing mainly on the process of the negotiations.
The negotiating sides agreed to resume the nuclear talks in bilateral meetings between different delegations, at the level of deputy chief negotiators.
The first day of talks also saw the Iranian team hold separate bilateral meetings with delegations representing Russia, the US, and the three European members of the G5+1.
This is the second time in a month that the Swiss city of Geneva is hosting representatives from Iran and the group of six major world powers. They had three days of intensive talks on November 7-9.
During the previous round of talks, the two sides managed to narrow their differences on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, though there were hitches that stopped them from reaching an interim deal at the end of the talks.
