Tehran, Jan 10, IRNA - The US State Department has verified the report that Secretary of State John Kerry will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Javad Zarif in Geneva on January 14 on Tehran's nuclear program.
According to the latest announcement made by Jen Psaki, the spokesperson of the US Department of State, Kerry will travel to Geneva to meet with Zarif and 'to have a bilateral meeting to provide guidance to their negotiating teams before their next round of discussions, scheduled for Jan. 15.'
The meeting between the two top diplomats is to be held prior to the bilateral talks of their deputies to be held on January 15-17 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 P5+1 countries (US, Britain, China, France and Russia plus Germany.)
The new round of 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.
According to Psaki, the US Secretary of State would leave Geneva for Sofia, Bulgaria, a day after his talks with Zarif.
Talks between Iran and the world powers resumed on December 17, 2014, just weeks after failing to meet a November 24 deadline for a comprehensive nuclear deal due to significant gaps over certain remaining issues (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 1, 2015.