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Iranian foreign minister to meet EU foreign policy chief early September — official

The latest round of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program between Iran and the six world powers was held in Austria between 2 and 20 July
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton  EPA/DRAGAN TATIC
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton
© EPA/DRAGAN TATIC

TEHRAN, August 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton will meet in early September, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Monday.

“The meeting venue has not been determined yet,” he said. “But it’s clear that several bilateral meetings will be held, expert-level meetings are also planned.”

The latest round of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program between Iran and the six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) was held in Austria between 2 and 20 July. The negotiations failed to develop the final comprehensive agreement over this period. In this connection, the sides extended the negotiating process for four months - it is planned to end the talks by late November.

The deadline for the fulfilment of the third package of measures to remove outstanding issues on Iran’s nuclear research expires in late August. The deadline was agreed upon on May 20 for a three-month period. In particular, the experts agreed then “to determine the approach to the safeguards for the Arak reactor the future of which remains a most complicated issue in the Iran-Sextet negotiations".