27 Nov 2024
Saturday 16 January 2016 - 09:52
Story Code : 196982

Iran's FM Zarif departs for Vienna

Tehran, Jan 16, IRNA Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, heading a delegation, departed Tehran for Vienna early Saturday morning.

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran(AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi as well as Spokesman of the AEOI Behrouz Kamalvandi are members of Iranian delegation accompanying Zarif.

According to dispatches, US Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Vienna, Austria on Saturday to meet Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Federica ?Mogherini over the Iran nuclear deal.

Kerry, Zarif and Mogherini will discuss the nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on Saturday, State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said on Friday.

'As we've said, all parties have continued making steady progress toward 'Implementation Day' of the JCPOA, which will ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program,' Toner said.

Kerry's trip comes as the UN nuclear agency is expected to verify Tehrans compliance with its obligations under the JCPOA reached with six world powers last July.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will issue its final report on Saturday, according to a diplomatic source.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told a news briefing on Friday that Iran has made important progress in its effort to implement the nuclear agreement.

Earnest, however, said Iran will not get any sanctions relief until the IAEA verifies all steps have been completed, noting the US wants to insure that Tehran does not 'cut any corners.'

The European Union (EU) has also announced its readiness to lift economic sanctions against Iran as soon as the IAEA releases its report.

Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - finalized the text of the JCPOA in Vienna in July 2015.

Under the JCPOA, limits are put on Irans nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.

By IRNA
https://theiranproject.com/vdcevp8zwjh8ooi.1kbj.html
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