Iranian President Hassan Rowhani (right) greets Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino, who arrived in Tehran on a two-day visit yesterday.
BRUSSELS: Six world powers and Iran have suspended their expert-level talks on implementing a landmark nuclear deal until after Christmas, a spokeswoman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said yesterday.
Experts from the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and Iran met in Geneva between Thursday and Sunday to settle practical details of the accord, which obliges Tehran to suspend its most sensitive nuclear work.
They need to decide when the November 24 deal goes into effect, meaning when Iran has to fulfil its obligations and Western governments ease some economic sanctions in return. A key sticking point appears to be how much advance information Western governments will get so they can verify that Iran is meeting its end of the deal before they lift any sanctions.
The spokeswoman for Ashton, who oversees diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the six nations, did not say how much progress, if any, was made towards resolving technical aspects of the deal in the four days of talks.
“There will be a break in technical talks over Christmas,” Maja Kocijancic said. “We expect that talks will resume before the New Year.”
Ashton spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday to discuss the negotiation process, she said.
Iran rejects Western fears that its nuclear work has any military intentions and says it needs nuclear power for electricity generation and medical research. The deal is meant to give the six powers time to negotiate a final settlement with Iran that will end the decade-old stand-off and ease worries over a new war in the Middle East. Reuters
