At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will brief EU Foreign Ministers on the round of talks she led on behalf of world powers with Iran that led to a ‘joint plan of action’’ regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
The meeting takes place after four days of expert-level talks in Vienna this week to negotiate the details of the Geneva deal between Iran and the so-called P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Ccouncil plus Germany), which aims to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief.
The ‘joint plan of action’ agreed in November ‘’represents a first step towards a long-term comprehensive solution that would ensure Iran’s nuclear programme will be exclusively peaceful,’’ the EU said. It covers reciprocal measures by Iran concerning its nuclear activities and by the P5+1 on the sanctions imposed on Tehran.
On Friday, Ashton’s spokesperson, Michael Mann, said Iran and six world powers need more time to work out complex technical steps on implementing the deal, after the Vienna attended by experts from Iran, the United States, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Reflecting the complexity of the technical issues discussed, it became clear that further work is needed,” he said.
He said there would be consultations in capitals and talks were expected to continue soon.
He gave no details on whether any specific issues that might have created problems.
Diplomats earlier said it was a very complicated task to translate the interim accord reached on November 24 into a concrete action plan.
In the meantime, a European Parliament delegation arrived in Iran over the weekend, the first visit to Tehran by the EU's legislative body in more than six years.
Iran's official IRNA news agency said the eight-member delegation, led by MEP Tarja Cronberg from Norway, who chairs the European Parliament's delegation, will stay until Wednesday to meet representatives from the Iranian parliament, government and civil society.
But there was no confirmation that the delegation would meet dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi and human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh who jointly won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov prize in 2012.
The visit is seen as a sign of warming ties between the EU and Iran in the wake of the Geneva deal.