'Iran n-deal to be implemented in late January'

Iran and the six world powers have agreed to start implementing their interim deal on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme in late January, an Iranian negotiator has said.

The statement came as Iran and the P5+1 group -- Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany -- concluded two-day expert-level talks in Geneva Tuesday, following signing of the landmark deal in the same city last month.

"Based on the conclusions (reached in) the talks held with the P5+1 expert delegations, the implementation of the Geneva accord will start in the third 10-day (period) of January," reported Xinhua citing Hamid Baeidinejad, the expert-level Iranian negotiator.

"The two sides managed to reach an understanding on the implementation of the agreement and now, their views and interpretations (of the Geneva agreement) are the same," said Baeidinejad, who is also director general for political and international affairs at the Iranian foreign ministry.

On Tuesday, senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said the expert-level talks between the two sides advanced "with relatively good progress", Iran's Press TV reported.

Araqchi said the Iranian negotiating team will submit its reports to "political deputies and directors, since certain issues remained to be resolved at the political level".

The interim deal was struck in Geneva Nov 24, in which Iran agreed to freeze part of its nuclear programme in exchange for limited easing of sanctions which had hurt its economy.