Iran’s deputy foreign ministers Seyed Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and EU Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid met in the Austrian capital of Vienna to coordinate the trilateral talks slated for Wednesday.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and US Secretary of State John Kerry are scheduled to hold a trilateral meeting in Vienna on Wednesday.
They will discuss the progress of the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
On arrival in the Austrian capital on Tuesday, Zarif said the negotiations in Vienna could further pave the way for reaching a final nuclear agreement.
He hoped that the other side will recognize the realities of Iran’s nuclear program in a bid to come to a solution that will serve all sides' interests.
Zarif noted, however, that there are many issues remaining to be resolved and that reaching an agreement in this round of talks is unlikely.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the G5+1 (alternatively known as P5+1 or E3+3) signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Based on the interim deal, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran’s decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities.
In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal.
The two sides had held the most recent round of talks in New York on September 26 without making any tangible progress.