Iran, US set to begin fresh nuclear talks in Switzerland

Iran and the United States are set to begin a new round of nuclear talks in an effort to bridge their differences and facilitate a comprehensive accord between Tehran and the P5+1 states ahead of a July 1 deadline.

The two delegations, which will be headed by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart John Kerry, are scheduled to sit down for fresh talks on Tehran’s nuclear energy program in the Swiss city of Lausanne later on Sunday.

Deputy foreign ministers of Iran and the US as well as the European Union deputy foreign policy chief, Helga Schmid, are slated to attend the discussions.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will also be among the participants in the Lausanne negotiations.

Following the talks, Zarif will leave for Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, where he will discuss Iran’s nuclear file with his German, French and UK counterparts, namely Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Laurent Fabius and Philip Hammond.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will host the Brussels talks “as part of the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran,” her office said in a statement last week.

On March 4, Zarif and Kerry wrapped up intense nuclear negotiations in the Swiss city of Montreux. Salehi and Moniz also attended the talks.

Representatives of Iran and the United States had also held three rounds of intense negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 22-23.

On the eve of the Lausanne talks, Kerry expressed hope that Iran and the six world powers would agree on the outlines of a nuclear deal in the coming days.

“We believe very much that there’s not anything that’s going to change in April or May or June that suggests that at that time a decision you can’t make now will be made then,” Kerry told CBS television.

“My hope is that in the next days that will be possible,” he added during the interview recorded in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Iran and the P5+1 countries – Britain, France, China, the United States and Russia plus Germany – are seeking to seal a comprehensive nuclear deal by July 1.The two sides have already missed two self-imposed deadlines for inking a final agreement since they signed an interim one in the Swiss city of Geneva in November 2013.