Iran, US start key n-talks on D-day

The contentious nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers resumed here on Tuesday, the last day of the self-imposed deadline by the participants, following the arrival of Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Austrian capital.

Zarif met US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Palais Coburg Hotel, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

Both foreign ministers held their last round of talks on Sunday evening.

Zarif was scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then meet International Atomic Energy Agency director general Yukiya Amano later on Tuesday.

The Iranian foreign minister left the Austrian capital late on Sunday, but his deputies Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi stayed back to continue talks on preparing the text of the comprehensive agreement.

In the absence of Zarif, the Iranian negotiators held four rounds of talks with European Union deputy foreign policy chief Helga Schmidt on Monday. US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman was present in one round of these talks.

Iran, the European Union and representatives of the P5+1 group of world powers -- the US, Britain, France, China, Russia plus Germany -- are holding intensive nuclear talks to reach a final agreement on Iran's nuclear issue.

Both sides are set to find a solution to the nuclear dispute that goes back over a decade.