Iran, P5+1 Start New Talks in Switzerland

Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 have started new negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The talks began on Wednesday following intensive talks the day before, which lasted into early Wednesday but were then adjourned until later in the morning.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz met as part of efforts by Iran and the P5+1 to reaching mutual understanding in the negotiations.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius left the talks on Tuesday night to attend a cabinet meeting, according to an official in the French delegation. “He will come back as soon as it’s useful,” the official said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have also departed Lausanne.

This is while UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Wednesday that “very significant progress” has been made at the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

Speaking to reporters early on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad JavadZarif described the ongoing talks as “very good” and hoped that the parties attending the negotiations could arrive at the expected understanding on Wednesday.

“I hope that we can finalize the work on Wednesday and hopefully start the process of drafting (a final deal)”, Zarif said.

Regarding the removal of the sanctions against Iran, a senior member of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic and the six other states – France, Britain, the US, Russia, China and Germany – had resolved “many aspects” of the issue of the sanctions, but “some limited” issues still remained.

Hamid Ba’eedinejad, who is the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, told Press TV in Lausanne that the Islamic Republic and its negotiating partners were now concentrating on those remaining issues regarding the sanctions.

“Sanctions have many aspects, there are unilateral sanctions, US sanctions, EU sanctions, UNSC sanctions… I should say that many of these aspects have been resolved, but still there are some limited areas that also need to be resolved, and we are now concentrating on those remaining technical aspects with regard to the sanctions,” he said.

Iran and the P5+1 group are working intensely to narrow their differences and hammer out a final comprehensive accord over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program by the end of June 2015.

Kerry, Zarif hold bilateral meeting

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad JavadZarifare holding bilateral talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne after a March 31 deadline for reaching a common understanding over sticking points has been extended, an unnamed American official says.

The meeting was held on Wednesday, the seventh day of intense talks between Iran and the P5+1 – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – aimed at laying the groundwork for a potentially historic agreement to resolve the Western dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

The two sides have set July 1 as the final deadline for a comprehensive agreement.

Early on Wednesday, Zarif described the talks as “very good” and hoped that the parties attending the negotiations could arrive at the expected understanding on Wednesday.

“For the majority of issues, solutions have been completely found,” he said.

Speaking on Tuesday night, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said, “We are making progress. But it’s complicated, it’s long and difficult. And I’m afraid that we may be going through the night.”

A senior member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team has also said Tehran and the P5+1 had reached an agreement on the removal of anti-Tehran sanctions, but minor issues still remained.

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