Zarif, Kerry, Ashton To Meet In Oman Soon

Tehran, Nov 1, IRNA - Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry and outgoing EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will hold talks on Tehran’s nuclear issue in Oman early November. A Foreign Ministry official made the remarks in an interview with IRNA on condition of anonymity. He said Zarif, Kerry and Ashton are slated to meet in the Omani capital Muscat on November 9-10 to discuss steps toward the final comprehensive deal on Iran’s civilian nuclear program. The source said Ashton will be present in Muscat as representative of the EU while the date for next round of talks between Tehran and G5+1 has not been fixed yet. Iran and the six major world powers ended their 8th round of nuclear negotiations in Vienna on October 23. The 7th round of the talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 was held in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting last month. The two sides held six rounds of negotiations in Vienna to reach the comprehensive deal after they inked an interim agreement in Geneva on November 24. The Geneva agreement took effect on January 20 and expired six months later on July 20. In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 after they failed to reach an agreement on a number of key issues./end