Iran, US to begin fresh nuclear talks Feb. 20: Iran negotiator

A senior Iranian negotiator says Iran and the United States will kick off a fresh round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 20.

The negotiations will begin on Friday when deputy foreign ministers from Iran and the US will hold talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araghchi.

Araghchi further noted he and Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi will sit down with a US delegation headed by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

The talks between the deputy foreign minister will continue on Saturday, Araghchi said, adding, “On Sunday and Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry will join the negotiators and the talks will continue” between the delegations from the two countries.

“It is also likely that after the fourth day [of bilateral talks between Iran and the US] the negotiations are held at P5+1 level,” Araghchi added.

Sherman and her team will travel to Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday to hold negotiations with Iranian officials, the State Department said on Wednesday.

“These bilateral consultations will take place in the context of the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran,” it added.

Iran and P5+1 – Russia, China, France, Britain, the United States and Germany – are seeking to seal a high-profile political deal by the end of March and to confirm the full technical details of the accord by July 1.