Next Round of Iran Nuclear Talks Set for December 17: Iranian Deputy FM

The Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister announced that the next round of talks on the country's nuclear program would be held in Geneva on December 17 and would include a number of bilateral meetings and separate talks with the US delegation.

Foreground, from left: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US Secretary of State John Kerry, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Russian Foreign Minister Serei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the talks on Iran's nuclear program, in Geneva (File).


 The next round of talks between Iran and a group of international mediators on Tehran's controversial nuclear program will be held at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Geneva on December 17, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Arakchi said Thursday.
"Iran and P5+1 will continue talks on the nuclear program the level of deputy ministers next Wednesday [December 17]," Arakchi told reporters in Tehran.

"The Iranian delegation will hold a series of bilateral meetings as early as on Monday. Iran will also hold separate talks with the American delegation," the diplomat said.

Tehran has seen several rounds of sanctions imposed by the West over its uranium enrichment program. Although Iran claims that its program has purely peaceful purposes, Western countries suspect it of developing nuclear weapons.

In November 2013, during talks in Geneva, the P5+1 group of international mediators comprising Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Germany agreed to reach a deal with Tehran, guaranteeing the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program by July 2014. The deadline for the agreement was later postponed to November 24, 2014.

The latest round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group in Vienna did not produce a comprehensive deal on Iran's nuclear program and the sides agreed to continue the discussions until July 2015.

Earlier this week Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that the new round of talks will be held before the end of 2014. Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed Zarif also said Wednesday that work was under way to set a date in December for the resumption of talks. He expressed hope that a comprehensive deal on the Iranian nuclear program will be reached in the nearest future.

Earlier on Thursday Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said that the Iranian delegation, comprising experts and an aide to the country's foreign minister will fly to Geneva for nuclear talks on December 15.