New round of Iran negotiations with six world powers to begin in Vienna November 18

BRUSSELS, November 3. /TASS/. Iran and the six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) will begin a new round of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme in Vienna on November 18, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s press secretary told a briefing on Monday.

Ray said Catherine Ashton, who had stepped down on October 31, would continue to lead the talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

Ashton will meet with the P5+1 political directors in Vienna on November 7. She will confer with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Oman on November 9-10 where US Secretary of State John Kerry will join her. The next talks will start in Vienna on November 18, Ray said.

The 8th round of consultations was held in the Austrian capital on October 16.

Iran and the P5+1 group met in Geneva in November 2013 and agreed to coordinate a document, which would guarantee the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, in exchange for lifting international sanctions against Iran. Under the schedule, by November 24, 2014 the P5+1 and Iran should end the work on a comprehensive agreement on the final settlement of Iran’s nuclear problem. According to some diplomats, by now the document is 95-percent ready.

The experts-level consultations took place in the middle of October. "The results were achieved in all directions," the source close to the negotiations told TASS earlier.

“The outcome of the talks depends on the parties’ political will and on who will make the first step,” it said.

Deadline for the nuclear agreement between Iran and the six powers expires on November 24, 2014.

The P5+1 is a group of countries which in 2006 joined the diplomatic efforts with Iran in regard to its nuclear program. The term refers to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, namely the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.