Iran, Sextet Hold Technical Meeting in Vienna

The European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton’s Spokesperson Michael Mann announced in a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday that experts from Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) have held a “technical meeting” in the Austrian capital.

Earlier in the morning, a separate meeting also brought together Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, EU Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Maria Schmid and political directors from the six nations to proceed with drafting the text of a final nuclear accord.

This round of talks, coordinated by the European Union, started on July 2 and is expected to run until at least July 15 with the aim of sealing a long-awaited deal to resolve the decade-long standoff on Iran’s nuclear case once and for all.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is heading the country’s nuclear team, occasionally holds one-on-one meetings with Ashton, who liaises with Tehran on behalf of the six powers, to assess the progress made in the talks.

Meanwhile, Xinhua reported on Monday that some foreign ministers of the G5+1 (also known and the P5+1 or E3+3) are expected to travel to Vienna to join the ongoing talks.

The Chinese news agency also said that it is still unclear which countries would join the talks, but US Secretary of State John Kerry may join the meeting following his planned trip to China.

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.