US-Iran n-talks enter third day

The new round of talks over Iran's long-disputed nuclear programme between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif resumed here on Tuesday morning, with more world powers to participate later in the day.

The two leaders were joined by Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, and US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. The two later left the major negotiation room and had a separate meeting, Xinhua reported.

Kerry and Zarif held some five hours of talks on Monday, after which Zarif flew to Brussels to meet with European Union (EU) diplomats and his counterparts from Germany, France and Britain on Monday afternoon. He then returned back to Lausanne for further talks with Kerry in the evening.

An EU spokesperson said that after the meeting with Zarif, the three European foreign ministers and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stressed "their determination to work towards reaching an agreement with Iran".

"This was a useful meeting and I am confident it will contribute to advancing the process in the coming days and weeks," Mogherini said in a statement, adding that the EU would continue negotiations with Iran later this week.

Ther French delegation and Chinese representative Wang Qun will arrive on Tuesday evening in Lausanne to join the new round of talks over Iran's nuclear program.

The representatives from the P5+1 group of world powers, namely Britain, China, France, Russia, the US plus Germany, are scheduled to meet together and hold talks with Iran on Wednesday here.

With the March 31 deadline for a framework agreement approaching, there are growing signs that the six world powers and Iran will be able to reach something this time, though some gaps might still exist.

"Finally, we will get something," Zarif told reporters before traveling to Brussels to meet his EU peers.

"In some issues we are closer to solution. So we can say that solutions are available, but we're still distant on some issues," he said.

It has been over 15 months since Iran and the world's major countries agreed to come back to the negotiating table for the Iranian nuclear programme in 2013.

Under an interim deal between Iran and the P5+1 inked in November, 2013, Iran said it would suspend critical nuclear activities in return for some ease of sanctions, with all sides seeking a final and comprehensive deal.

The six world powers had set a June 30 deadline to forge a final and comprehensive agreement, but the US has said earlier that it hoped to reach a "framework agreement" by the end of March.