[caption id="attachment_153835" align="alignright" width="219"] The Iranian and US delegations hold a second round of nuclear negotiations in the Swiss city of Montreux on February 23, 2015[/caption]
Representatives of Iran, the United States and the European Union have started a new round of intensive talks on Tehrans nuclear program in the Swiss city of Montreux ahead of a July 1 deadline for reaching a comprehensive deal.
Irans deputy foreign ministers, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e Ravanchi, and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman held talks on Monday. EU's Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid was also present in the negotiations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry are also scheduled to join talks in Montreux later on Monday.
Like the previous rounds of talks between Iran and the US in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 22-23, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, and US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will participate in this round of negotiations.
A special assistant to Iran's president, Hossein Fereidoun, is also present in the talks.
Iran and the P5+1 countries Britain, France, China, Russia, and the United States plus Germany are making attempts to narrow their differences on the outstanding issues related to Iran's nuclear program. The two sides have missed two deadlines since an interim deal was signed in November 2013. They have set July 1 as the next deadline for the talks.