Kerry, Zarif to meet in Oman ahead of final push for Iran deal
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the EU's Catherine Ashton in Oman Nov. 9-10, ahead of the final push by Iran and the P5+1 to try to close an Iran nuclear deal in Vienna.
The schedule for the final weeks of Iran nuclear deal negotiations was announced Oct. 31 as US and Israeli officials signaled that they saw increasing odds that a deal may be reached next month.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will meet political directors from the P5+1 — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany — in Vienna on Nov. 7, the EU's Michael Mann announced Oct. 31.
Then Ashton, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will hold two days of trilateral meetings in Muscat, Oman, on Nov.9-10. It is Oman that hosted secret talks between the United States and Iran that helped lead to the interim nuclear deal reached in Geneva in November 2013.
Marathon final deal talks involving Iran and the P5+1 to try to close the comprehensive deal will get underway in Vienna starting Nov. 18, the EU said.
