Tehran, YJC. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held talks on the progress of nuclear talks between Tehran and the six powers.
During a Saturday meeting on the sidelines of the 69th
session of the UN General Assembly, the two senior diplomats urged continuing
talks over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Zarif and Lavrov also addressed the upcoming summit of the
Caspian Sea littoral states. The meeting is scheduled to be held in Russia’s
port city of Astrakhan on Monday.
Nuclear negotiators representing Iran and the Group 5+1
(also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) held a new round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear
program in New York this week, Tasnim reports. The negotiations were wrapped up
on Friday night without making any tangible progress.
Iran and the six nations on November 24, 2013, signed an
interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Based on the interim deal, the world powers agreed to
suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans
in return for Tehran's decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities.
In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend
negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal.
Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has left New York
after the UN General Assembly to join the Astrakhan convention on the Caspian
Sea.
Rouhani headed to the Russian city of Astrakhan on Sunday to
participate in the summit set to be held on Monday, according to a Press TV
report.
The attending countries are going to discuss the Caspian
Sea’s legal status, which has gained importance following the breakup of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the emergence of newly
independent states.