The European Union foreign policy chief will chair talks with France, Germany, Britain and Iran in Brussels next Monday, the EU said, as part of efforts to end a long standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.
"Federica Mogherini will host in Brussels next Monday, 16 March 2015, a meeting with the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Frank Walter Steinmeier, of France, Laurent Fabius, of Great Britain, Philip Hammond, and of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif," the EU said in a statement, Reuters reported.
IRNA reported on Wednesday that the nuclear negotiating team is scheduled to start intensive nuclear discussions with US and EU delegations in the Swiss city of Lausanne from Sunday.
It also said Zarif, along with Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, will leave the Lausanne talks for a short visit to Brussels on Monday to attend the meeting that will be hosted by Mogherini, adding that the negotiators will return to the Swiss city to continue the talks with the United States.
Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) are in talks to reach a political understanding until the end of this month ahead of a self-imposed June 30 deadline for a final deal to resolve the 12-year dispute over Tehran's nuclear activities. The accord would place constraints on Iran's nuclear work for a specified period of time and subject the country to rigorous inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency in exchange for lifting sanctions.
