Strasbourg, 14/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 14 January, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton announced that she intended to visit Iran in the coming weeks. “I read with interest the invitation [from Iran's Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif] to me to visit Tehran and I intend to do so in the coming weeks”, she said at a press conference in Kuwait. Iran's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Aragchi said on 11 January that “Catherine Ashton has an open invitation from Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Tehran when she wants”. Ashton's spokesperson replied that Ashton had “already said that she planned to visit Tehran when the negotiations progress towards an overall agreement”.
On 12 January, the E3+3 and Iran reached an agreement on implementing the initial measures of the joint action plan decided up on 24 November (see EUROPE 10995). Ashton described the agreement as significant and hoped that it “will now give us an occasion to progress and consider a more comprehensive agreement soon.” (CG/transl.fl)