Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iran and six other countries - the US, Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany - started the second day of a new round of talks over Tehran's nuclear program in Geneva on November 21.

The Iranian delegation is headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the teams from the six countries are led by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.

Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann said on November 21 following a one-on-one meeting between Zarif and Ashton that the negotiations between them have been "very substantial and detailed," Press TV reported.

Majid Takht-e Ravanchi, deputy Iranian foreign minister for European and American affairs and an Iranian nuclear negotiator in the Geneva talks, said the "discussions were good and we delved into content and details." He added however, differences between the views of each side remain.

Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that two sides agreed that any deal must include reciprocal measures.

"It's still too soon to confirm anything but this is a principle we have already agreed upon that any measures that should be taken by each side should be equal and balanced with the measures that the other side should take," he said.
The next round of negotiations on resolving Iran's nuclear program among the six international mediators and Iran was launched in Geneva on November 20.

Ahead of the talks between the deputy foreign ministers of Iran and the six countries on November 20, Zarif and Ashton held a bilateral meeting, which was later described by the Iranian foreign minister as "good."

In a message on his Facebook page, Zarif said that "serious and detailed talks" with Ashton on a potential "final agreement" will start the next day.

Ashton's spokesman Mann said "things have moved forward a lot," adding that Tehran and the world powers made "considerable progress" in their last round of talks in Geneva.

Mann highlighted Ashton's determination to move things forward and narrow the remaining differences.

"She wants to find as soon as possible a sustainable and robust deal with Iran that is really verifiable and reassures the international community about the purely peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program," he stated.

On the sidelines of the first day of the negotiations, Zarif and Araqchi, each held a one-on-one meeting with Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian representative to the talks.
The world powers hope for a deal over Iran's nuclear program, as the last round of nuclear talks ended on November 10 without any progress.

Iran blamed France for failure to reach deal because of the position taken by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in favor of the Israeli regime and a lack of commitment by U.S. State Secretary John Kerry in the negotiations.

The U.S. and some of Western countries suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. Iran says it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons and is using nuclear energy for medical research instead.