TEHRAN: Direct talks with the United States this week on Tehran’s nuclear programme hold the key to bridging gaps at a “serious phase” of negotiations and sealing a deal, a top Iranian official said yesterday.
The two countries will hold their first full-scale official direct meetings in decades today and tomorrow in Geneva, with the route toward an eventual lifting of sanctions expected to be the main issue.
Abbas Araqchi, a vice foreign minister who will lead the Iranian delegation, said the tete-a-tete with the United States was essential, as the negotiations are delicately poised.
The P5+1 group of permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany have long sought to reach a settlement over Iran’s nuclear programme.
But with the last round of talks in Vienna in May yielding next to no progress, there has been concern that the P5+1 process was stalling. The announcement on Saturday of the US-Iran meetings in Geneva came as a surprise, but appeared to confirm the need for secondary steps to close big gaps between Tehran and Washington’s positions.
“We have always had bilateral discussions with the United States in the margin of the P5+1 group, but since the talks have entered a serious phase, we want to have separate consultations,” Araqchi said, quoted by official Irna news agency.AFP
