BRUSSELS: Six world powers and Iran will hold new talks in New York on September 18, EU officials said yesterday, as efforts intensify towards clinching a nuclear deal ahead of a November deadline.
The talks involving the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany and led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton “will continue in New York as of September 18”, Ashton spokesman Michael Mann said.
An EU source said on condition of anonymity that the talks would be held at the level of political directors. Mann said the talks in New York, which typically take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, would be preceded by similar but smaller groupings of officials in both Geneva and Vienna.
Talks were due to begin Thursday in Geneva between senior US and Iranian officials while he added that France, Britain and Germany would hold a separate round of talks with Iran at the political directors level on September 11 in Vienna.
Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he had had “good discussions” with Ashton in Brussels and Tehran was committed to an accord over its contested nuclear programme. Quoted by the Belga news agency, Zarif said he was “fairly optimistic” after that Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany could reach a deal by the November deadline.
Under the interim deal that was reached in Geneva in November and took effect in January, Iran agreed to halt its most sensitive nuclear activity in exchange for some sanctions easing. It was designed to buy time for talks on a long-term settlement.
Meanwhile, Iran’s central bank has received a total of $1bn (£608m) of previously frozen oil revenue from Japan under the terms of an extended nuclear agreement with six world powers, state news agency Irna reported yesterday.
Iran and the United States, China, France, Germany, Britain and Russia agreed in July to extend a six-month interim accord until November 24 after they failed to meet a July 20 deadline for reaching a long-term deal to end their nuclear dispute.
In return for continuing action to curb its nuclear programme, Iran would receive $2.8bn during the four-month extension of its funds held in foreign banks, in addition to $4.2bn paid during the January-July period.
US officials say more than $100bn of Iran’s funds are held abroad and are difficult to access because of tightening sanctions on the major oil producer in recent years. The UN nuclear agency confirmed on August 20 that Iran was moving to meet the requirements of the extended agreement, paving the way for some of the money to be released. Citing the Iranian central bank’s public relations office, Irna said Japan’s central bank deposited the funds in two instalments at the Iranian central bank’s account in Oman.
Japan, China, India and South Korea are the biggest buyers of Iranian crude. Japan, along with South Korea and India, cleared some of its oil dues earlier under the payment schedule agreed with the six powers in the interim agreement.
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