Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif leading a high-ranking delegation will leave Tehran for New York on Tuesday to attend a new round of nuclear talks with the major powers, a senior negotiator announced on Sunday.
"A high-level meeting between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) will be held on Thursday in New York presided by Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters.
Zarif will be accompanied by his deputies Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, IRNA reported.
Araqchi also said Zarif and Ashton will have a working lunch on Wednesday to make arrangements for the high-level talks.
Bilateral consultations between Iranian and P5+1 negotiators will be held after the meeting between Zarif and Ashton, the senior diplomat said.
Early in the talks, decisions will be taken on how to continue the discussions, he said, adding, it is possible that a meeting at ministerial level will be held.
The talks with the six major powers will be held on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly meeting.
The talks will be the seventh round of high-level talks between Iran and the major powers on a final deal to resolve the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program. The negotiating parties failed to meet a July 24 target to reach a comprehensive deal and agreed to extend the talks until November 24.
Iran has already held bilateral talks with P5+1 members on different occasions ahead of the New York meeting.
Reportedly it is possible that the two sides will continue talks in New York after the UN General Assembly meeting.
The New York talks are considered decisive in efforts aimed at clinching a comprehensive deal by November 24.
