US Secretary of State, Iranian FM to hold talks in Geneva on nuclear issue

The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will hold talks here with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Javad Zarif next week over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

According to a latest announcement released by U.S. Department of State, Kerry will travel to Geneva to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif on Jan. 14 "to have a bilateral meeting to provide guidance to their negotiating teams before their next round of discussions, which begin on Jan. 15."

The meeting between the two top diplomats was to be held prior to the bilateral talks of their deputies scheduled from Jan. 15 to 17 in the Swiss city.

The planned three-day engagements would be followed by a political-director level talks to be held on Jan. 18 between the Islamic republic and the so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany.

The new round talks of all sides, to be chaired by EU Political Director Helga Schmid, will meet "with a view to making further progress towards a long-term comprehensive solution on the nuclear issue," as noted in an earlier statement from EU, the mediator for Iran nuclear talks.

Talks between Iran and the world powers resumed on Dec. 17, 2014, just weeks after failing to meet a Nov. 24 deadline for a comprehensive nuclear deal due to significant gaps over Iran's uranium enrichment abilities and how the sanctions should be removed.

Tehran and the world powers have agreed to extend their talks to July this year. Endit