Iran negotiators, EU envoy hold nuclear talks in New York

Iranian deputy foreign ministers have held talks with the European Union representative to continue drafting the text of a final deal over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian negotiators Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi sat down with top EU envoy Helga Schmid in New York on Thursday to continue talks over the text of a possible final deal.

The first round of the talks lasted five hours, and after a four-hour break, the two negotiating sides resumed the negotiations for a second round which lasted another three hours.

The discussions were held on the sidelines of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Further discussions are expected to take place in New York on Friday. The talks will start first with a meeting between experts from the two sides and then the Iranian deputy foreign ministers will sit down with the EU representative to continue the talks on drafting the possible final deal.

The talks follow similar meetings in the Austrian city of Vienna last week.

During the three-day talks, which ended on April 24, the participants started drafting a possible final deal based upon a mutual understanding reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 2.

Iran and its negotiating partners are working to finalize the details of a final deal by a deadline of July 1.