Iran, G5+1 Countries Resume Nuclear Talks

Local Editor

Iran and the G5+1 countries resumed nuclear talks on Tuesday, seeking to strike a comprehensive deal before a July 20 deadline in the Austrian city of Vienna.

The meeting is co-chaired by Iranˈs Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.

On Monday, the US and Iran briefly discussed the crisis raging in Iraq, US officials said, while the focus in Vienna on the second day of talks was the nuclear negotiations.

"The negotiations have already intensified, as we said that they would, and they will continue to do so in the days and weeks leading up to July 20," a senior US official in Vienna said on Monday.

She added however that there are "still significant gaps... and we don't have illusions about how hard it will be to close those gaps, though we do see ways to do so."

The senior US official said that some progress was made in one-on-one talks with Iran in the Swiss city of Geneva recently last week.

"We not only understood each other better after those two days, but I think we both can see places where we might be able to close those gaps," she said.

She added that a "little bit" of drafting the deal began at the last multi-party talks in May, and that this would continue this week.

Iran and the G5+1 countries have been discussing ways to start drafting a final deal that would end the West's dispute with Iran over the country's nuclear energy program.

Sources: News Agencies, Edited by website team