Iran nuclear negotiating team heads to Vienna

The Iranian negotiating team led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has left for the Austrian capital of Vienna for a fresh round of talks with the P5+1 group over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

Zarif is scheduled to sit down with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who leads the team from the P5+1 countries, at a dinner banquet later on Tuesday to discuss the progress of the nuclear talks and the agenda for the negotiations.

The Iranian foreign minister is then set to attend a trilateral meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Ashton on Wednesday.

This round of talks is the eighth this year between Iran and the six countries of Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany.

Tehran and the P5+1 group wrapped up their latest round of nuclear talks in New York late last month.

The two sides are currently working to reach a final agreement aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over Tehran’s civilian nuclear work as a November 24 deadline approaches.

On Monday night, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran and the Sextet of world powers will “certainly” reach an understanding on Iran’s nuclear program.

“On the nuclear issue the two sides will certainly reach an understanding and this understanding will be based on the win-win principle” Rouhani said during a TV televised interview.

World countries have accepted that Iran should have access to nuclear technology and that this issue should be resolved through negotiations, the president said.

Iran and the six countries sealed an interim deal in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 23, 2013, for a six-month period. The deal, which took effect on January 20, expired on July 20.