Iran nuclear talks end with agreement on outstanding issues

  
Iran's talks with the European Union have ended with an agreement over outstanding issues about the practical details of implementing a nuclear agreement, Iranian state television reported on Friday.

But the implementation of the deal reached in Geneva in November will take place after consultations with the capitals of Iran and the six major powers involved in the talks that were on Friday represented by the European Union, it said.

The two-day talks began on Thursday evening between Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, and Helga Schmid, a deputy of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, to discuss the remaining issues over the implementation of the deal on the political level.

On Nov. 24, Iran and the P5+1 group, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, reached the interim nuclear deal, according to which Iran will halt part of its nuclear program for six months in exchange for limited sanction relief. This measure aims to buy time for negotiating a more comprehensive deal to settle the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman also arrived in Geneva Thursday morning. The US State Department confirmed that Sherman would meet with both Araqchi and Schmid, but didn't say whether there would be a three-way encounter. 


REUTERS/AP