Iran, US foreign ministers meet over nuclear talks
Iran Press TV
Sun Feb 2, 2014 1:59PM GMT
The Iranian foreign minister and US secretary of state have held a meeting to discuss Iran's nuclear energy program and the next round of talks between Tehran and six major world powers.
Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart John Kerry met on Sunday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Iran's Foreign Ministry announced, adding that the meeting was held at request of the US secretary of state.
The ministry added that the meeting was held to discuss the "general issues that should be initially raised and subsequently followed through" in the next round of talks between Iran and the six world powers.
"In all cases, such discussions have been transparently held based on the rights of the Iranian nation and the necessity to reach an acceptable solution [to the nuclear issue] so that the rights of the people and negotiating sides are observed," the ministry pointed out.
The ministry went on to add, "Any 'news' fabrication about the content of this meeting and talks lacks precision and is not confirmed."
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain and the US – plus Germany are scheduled to hold the next round of talks in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on February 18.
The meeting will come after Iran and the sextet of world powers on January 20 started to implement an interim nuclear deal they had clinched in the Swiss city of Geneva last November.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities as a confidence-building measure, and the world powers undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief and release more than USD four billion of Tehran's oil revenues.
The Iranian foreign minister, who is in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference, also held a meeting with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano on Sunday.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed cooperation between Iran and the UN nuclear body.
Iran and the IAEA signed a joint statement in November 2013 to outline a roadmap for bilateral cooperation on certain outstanding issues.
Under the Iran-IAEA deal, Tehran agreed, on a voluntary basis, to allow the IAEA inspectors to visit the Arak heavy water plant and the Gachin uranium mine.
The IAEA visited various sections of the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran on January 29. The UN nuclear agency's inspectors visited the Arak heavy water production plant on December 8, 2013, as the first step to be implemented under the Iran-IAEA agreement.
SF/HMV
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