US, EU to meet Iran over nuke talks

Washington, Nov 1: US Secretary of State

will travel to

early next month for meetings with his Iranian and EU counterparts to push for a comprehensive deal over Tehran's nuclear programme by Nov 24, the State Department said on Friday.

The top American envoy will be in Muscat, Oman's capital, Nov 9-10 for a trilateral meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Catherine Ashton, EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, department spokesperson Jennifer Psaki said, according to Xinhua.

She told reporters that the meeting is part of the EU-coordinated negotiations between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the US plus Germany.

Among the US delegation will be former deputy secretary of state William Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, senior adviser Jake Sullivan and the US negotiating team, Psaki said.

Iran and the P5+1 group agreed in July to extend the nuclear talks for another four months till Nov 24, as they could not narrow down significant gaps on core issues during the past six months.

The two sides met again about two weeks ago in Vienna, Austria without any major breakthrough. Next round of talks are scheduled for Nov 18 in Vienna, according to Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency.

Tehran is not seeking to extend the talks and trying to reach a comprehensive deal with the six powers before the Nov 24 deadline, Iran's nuclear negotiator Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi said on Tuesday.

IANS