Diplomats from Iran and the United States met again on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland for the second day of bilateral talks over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was leading the Iranian delegation in the meeting with the US negotiating team headed by Acting Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
Deputy Secretary General for EU’s External Action Service Helga Schmid and Stephen Clement, an aide to EU Special Advisor Catherin Ashton, joined for part of the Tuesday meeting between Iran and the US.
A separate meeting between Iran and the P5+1(the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) is scheduled to start today. Araqchi said on Monday that during the first day of the talks between senior foreign ministry officials from Iran and the US, which lasted for six hours, “The two sides had detailed discussions, including on the US sanctions against Iran,” IRNA reported.
“There is a set of solutions in some areas and we need to discuss other issues,” he said, adding. “It is too early to judge the final outcome.”
The talks in Geneva are the first since Iran and the P5+1 failed to meet a second self-imposed deadline last month to reach a long-term settlement to the long-running dispute over Tehran’s nuclear work and decided to extend the negotiations on a comprehensive deal for seven more months until the end of next June.
They aim to reach a general agreement by March which would lay out the key points of a final pact and use the remaining time to finalize the details of the accord.
The two sides had reached a preliminary nuclear agreement in Geneva in November 2013, under which Iran agreed to temporarily scale down parts of its nuclear activities in exchange for limited sanctions relief.
On Sunday, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Ali Akbar Salehi said the parties to the talks have managed to narrow gaps on technical and legal issues. He added, “Only political aspects need to be addressed, and if the other party shows sufficient resolve, there is a high chance of signing a deal.”
