All parties to meet for new Iran talks Thursday: Russia
(MOSCOW) - Negotiators from all six powers in the P5+1 group will on Thursday meet with Iranian representatives for fresh nuclear talks being held in Vienna, Russia's deputy foreign minister said.
"It has been agreed to hold what can be called a mini-round of negotiations on October 16," Sergei Ryabkov told Russia's Interfax news agency on Tuesday.
Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Austrian capital on Tuesday. Officials in his delegation held separate two- and three-way talks with US and EU negotiators.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to go to Vienna on Wednesday for talks with Zarif. The Iranian foreign minister said the discussions included the "vital issues" of "uranium enrichment and the lifting of sanctions".
Ryabkov said that negotiatiors from the P5+1 -- the five permanent UN Security Council members the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany -- would form a plenary meeting with Iranian and EU representatives on Thursday.
He described the gathering as a "compact and compressed but nevertheless a full-fledged round" of talks.
The six world powers want Iran to reduce the scope of its atomic activities. In exchange, the West is offering to ease punishing economic sanctions imposed since 2012.
The sides have just six weeks before a November 24 deadline by which they are meant to finalise an accord.
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