Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) on Tehran’s nuclear program have made more progress this year than in the past decade, Germany’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed the United Nations-backed Conference on Disarmament in Geneva as US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Swiss town of Montreux with the aim of securing a framework agreement by the end of March. Steinmeier, referring to the major powers, told the forum, “The talks between the E3+3 (the three European countries of Britain, France and Germany plus the United States, Russia and China) and Iran are also advancing well. I would even go so far as to say that in 10 years of negotiations, we never achieved as much progress as we have made this year,” Reuters reported.
