Iran, US hold nuclear talks in Davos

Iran and the United States have held talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the latest developments about the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries on Friday during their fifth meeting in recent days.

Speaking to Iranian media after the meeting, Zarif said they discussed the need to speed up the nuclear talks.

He added that the two sides also exchanged views on technical issues, including Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

Zarif and Kerry met in the French capital, Paris, on January 16 to try to narrow gaps over Iran’s nuclear program, in a follow-up to their lengthy January 14 meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva.

The latest meeting between Zarif and Kerry came as Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman held a fresh round of nuclear talks in the Swiss city of Zurich on Friday.

Iran and the P5+1 (China, Russia, France, Britain and the US – plus Germany) have been holding talks to secure a final comprehensive deal over Iranian nuclear work.

Since an interim deal was agreed in Geneva in November 2013, the negotiating sides have missed two self-imposed deadlines to ink a final agreement.

Iran and the P5+1 countries now seek to reach a high-level political agreement by March 1 and to confirm the full technical details of the accord by July 1.