Prospects of Nuclear Talks are Good: Russia's Lavrov + Video

Tue Mar 31, 2015 13:52:38

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday he was planning to fly back to Switzerland to take part in marathon talks aimed at reaching deal on Iran's nuclear programme.

"Indeed I am planning to return and take part in the final part of the ministerial meeting of the six powers," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. "The prospects of this round of talks are not bad, even good I would say, AFP reports.

Meanwhile Senior representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group have held another round of talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne to bridge the gaps in the negotiations aimed at reaching a final deal over Tehran’s nuclear program, PRESS TV reports.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday sat down with his four counterparts from the P5+1 countries in the absence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who left Lausanne on Monday but planning to return.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is leading the Russian delegation in the talks.

The meeting between Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was aimed at finding solutions to the outstanding issues and reaching a mutual understanding as an an end-of-March deadline looms.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini was also present in the meeting.

Chinese FM: talks with Iran are presently at the final stages

The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said good signs of optimism were emerging from the nuclear negotiations despite some vague points still existing.

Chinese FM says good signs emerging from nuclear talks. Expressing happiness over the ongoing process of talks, he said good signs were discernable given the fact points of differences among participating countries in the talks are diminishing.

Stressing that talks with Iran are presently at the final stages, he hoped that parties in the talks would go on with settling the small number of issues still remaining unsettled and avoid any taking steps backwards.

Kerry says nuclear deal with Iran possible 'If God wills”

The US Secretary of State John Kerry said nuclear deal with Iran possible 'If God wills”.

According to Laura Rozen, a reporter for Al-Monitor, Kerry “reportedly gave a short and surprising answer when asked if an agreement would be reached by the self-imposed Tuesday deadline.”

On her twitter page which is followed by more than 52,000 people, she said that “Kerry referred to 'Allah' in his answer.”

“Not only did the chief US negotiator at the Iran nuclear talks make reference to Allah; he supposedly did it by speaking Arabic,” she twitted.

“The Arabic term Kerry is said to have used”, - insallah - translates as ‘God willing’ or ‘If Allah wills it’”.

Kerry made the remark in answer to a question posed to him about the future of nuclear talks with Iran when he was shopping for chocolates.

Also Speaking to reporters in the Swiss city of Lausanne late on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Director General for Political Affairs Hamid Ba'idinejad said the issue of continuing the talks beyond the March 31 deadline has not been raised yet, adding that finding solutions to the remaining issues is of “importance to all.”

Following the ministerial meeting, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi and Iranian deputy foreign ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e Ravanchi held talks with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Iran and the P5+1 are due to reconvene after these talks.

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