Iran’s Zarif meets with UK, German, Russian FMs one-on-one

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has held separate talks on the negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program with his British, German and Russian counterparts in the German city of Munich.

The meetings between Zarif, Britain’s Philip Hammond and Russia’s Sergei Lavrov on Saturday came on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Following the meetings, Zarif said in an interview with the Iranian state television that a deal cannot be reached unless the P5+1 group takes “a political action and decision.”

“According to what they (the P5+1 group) state, all sides are interested [in a deal with Iran]. However, we should see whether they have the political will to accompany this willingness with a political action and decision. We should see that in practice,” the top Iranian diplomat said.
Also on Saturday, Zarif met with Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The senior Iranian diplomat had also met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries (Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany) are seeking to reach a comprehensive agreement by March 1 and to confirm the full technical details of the accord by July 1.

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