A new round of expert-level talks between delegations from Iran and the group of six world powers entered the second day in a row in Vienna, reported Iranian government news agency Tasnim Thursday.
The talks, which began in Austria on Wednesday, are co-chaired by Hamid Baeedinejad, the director general for political and international affairs at Iran’s foreign ministry, and Stephen Clement, who is an aide to the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
On Wednesday, the parties held eight hours of talks. The significant gaps in the talks appear to be “the size and scope of Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity, the way of removing anti-Iran sanctions and duration of a final agreement,” reported Tasnim.
Last week, top diplomats from Iran, the US, and the EU held trilateral meetings in Vienna to iron out differences and secure an agreement between Tehran and the G5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
On November 24, 2013, the two sides signed an interim nuclear deal in Geneva.
Based on the interim deal, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran’s decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities.
In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alawi announced on Tuesday that the Islamic regime had arrested spies near its Bushehr nuclear reactor.
The announcement, made in the city of Bushehr, was reported by the Iranian semi-official Fars News Agency.
“Thanks to the vigilance of the Intelligence Ministry forces who monitor the moves of the foreign intelligence services, some agents who intended to carry out surveillance and intelligence gathering for the foreigners in Bushehr province have been identified and sent to justice,” claimed Alawi.
The Iranian minister hailed the province as being “the economic, industrial, military, trade and nuclear hub of the country,” and as holding “a special position at the national level.”