Iran Wants to Speed up Talks with Powers

(FNA)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi said the country's team of negotiators intend to speed up the pace of the nuclear talks with the six world powers.

Araqchi who is in Istanbul to meet his counterparts from the three European members of the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) said on Thursday that the Iranian team of legal experts and negotiators want to increase the momentum of the talks in a bid to settle the existing differences with G5+1 swiftly.

Araqchi said he and the other Iranian deputy foreign ministers accompanying him in the negotiations are set to hold bilateral and trilateral meetings with their British, French and German counterparts.

Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi, another deputy foreign minister, are due to hold talks with their British, French and German counterparts Simon Gass, Nicolas Dorier and Hans-Dieter Lucas respectively.

Director of the Political and International Security Department of the Foreign Ministry Hamid Baeedinejad, Foreign Minister's Advisor Davoud Mahammadnia as well as two officials from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Amiri and Pejman Rahimian, are other members of the Iranian negotiating team.

Helga Schmid, a deputy to EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini, is also in Istanbul to participate in the talks which will wrap up Thursday evening.

Iran has been in talks with the G5+1 for several years now to reach a comprehensive agreement to settle its nuclear dispute with the West.

During the 10th round of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers in Vienna from November 18 to 24, the seven nations decided to extend the talks until July after they failed to strike an agreement.

The latest round of the nuclear talks between the two sides was held at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 18.

The two sides decided to continue their talk early in February.

Both Iran and the G5+1 negotiators have underlined that cutting a final deal before the July 10 deadline is possible.