Zarif to meet with Kerry in Geneva on Jan 14

A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator says the country’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart John Kerry are to meet in Geneva later in January.

The two top diplomats will travel to the Swiss city on Wednesday, January 14 to meet prior to the bilateral meeting of their deputies, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on Friday.

Araqchi said Iranian and American negotiating delegations will subsequently hold bilateral negotiation  January 15 to 17 in Geneva and that Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers will negotiate at deputy foreign ministerial level on January 18.

Nuclear negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 group – the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – wrapped up their latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva on December 17, 2014.

The three-day Geneva discussions were held almost three weeks after Tehran and the six countries failed to reach a final agreement by a November 24 deadline despite making some progress.

The two sides agreed to extend their discussions for seven more months until July 1, 2015. They also agreed that the interim deal they had signed in Geneva in November 2013 should remain in place during the negotiations.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will travel to Iran on January 12 for bilateral nuclear negotiations and consultations, Araqchi said.