EU foreign policy chief to visit Iran
By Sara Rajabova
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton is scheduled to visit Tehran on March 8 to held discussions with Iranian officials, Iran's Fars news agency reported.
Ahton`s visit to Iran comes at the invitation of Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Iranian Foreign Minister invited the EU foreign policy chief to visit Iran during his first meeting with Ashton while attending the UN General Assembly in New York in last September.
European Union Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid will accompany Ashton during the visit.
The EU foreign policy chief is scheduled to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and foreign minister Zarif on March 9. She also will pay a visit to Iran's Esfahan city on March 10.
Zarif recently said that Iran and P5+1 group have agreed to hold meetings every month until June at the level of Iranian foreign minister and European Union's foreign policy chief.
Ashton and Zarif will meet on March 17 after the expert-level talks between Iran and P5+1 Group (Russia, China, France, Germany, UK and the US).
Iran and the P5+1 held meetings in Vienna in February to work out a comprehensive deal. The two sides signed an interim deal on Iran's nuclear energy program in Geneva last November. The deal took effect on Janury 20.
Under the agreement, the six major powers agreed to give Iran access to its $4.2 billion in revenues blocked overseas if the country fulfils the deal's terms which offer sanctions relief in exchange for steps on curbing the Iranian nuclear program.
The U.S. and some its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. Tehran has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical research instead.