Brussels, 17/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 17 June, EU Political Director Helga Schmid and her Iranian counterparts, the deputy foreign ministers Abbas Araghchi and Madjid Takht Ravanchi, resumed their talks in Vienna as part of the “ongoing diplomatic efforts to complete work towards a comprehensive, long-term solution to the Iranian nuclear issue”, as the European External Action Service (EEAS) announced during the evening of Tuesday 16 June.
“E3+3 (Germany, France, United Kingdom and China, United States, Russia) political directors will join the negotiations later this week”, the EEAS added - without providing exact dates. Araghchi is the political director on the Iranian side. Technical experts from the E3+3 and Iran are continuing to meet in Vienna, alongside the meetings at political director level, in order “to advance the progress on the technical annexes which will be part of the comprehensive agreement currently under negotiations”.
Araghchi recently stated that progress on the final agreement was “very slow”. On 12 June, the head of the Russian negotiators, Sergei Ryabkov, was concerned that the negotiations were “in the process of slowing down”. The previous day, France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius acknowledged that they were “not yet at the end of the discussion”.
A comprehensive agreement is due to be found by 30 June. On 16 June, Araghchi said that he did not think the date of 30 June was “sacred”. “We will not sacrifice a good agreement in order to respect the calendar”, the negotiator reportedly said, according to the Iranian state television website. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)