New Iran-US nuclear talks to be held in Geneva

WASHINGTON — US negotiators will meet in the coming days in Geneva with their Iranian counterparts for a new round of talks on reining in Iran's nuclear programme, American officials said Wednesday.

Chief negotiator, Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and her team were to travel to Switzerland on Thursday, the State Department said.

Iran and the so-called P5+1 group — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — are trying to pin down a complex deal that would put back Iran's ability to develop an atomic bomb in exchange for an easing of crippling international sanctions.

"These bilateral consultations will take place in the context of the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran," the State Department said in a statement, adding the European Union's deputy foreign policy chief Helga Schmid would also join the talks.

Two deadlines for a permanent agreement have already been missed since a November 2013 interim deal.

Negotiators are now working towards reaching a political framework by March 31, with the final technical details to be laid out in a comprehensive accord by June 30.

It was not immediately clear who would meet with Sherman in Geneva, but in the past she has huddled with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The Iranian minister has also met multiple times with top US diplomat John Kerry mostly in European capitals.

Their last face-to-face was in Munich earlier this month, when they met twice on different days on the sidelines of a global security conference.

Both men stressed that they were focused on the March 31 deadline and appeared to rule out any further extensions.

Western powers accuse Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon — a charge Tehran denies.

Disagreements in the talks centre on the extent of nuclear activities Iran will be allowed to continue and the timetable for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear efforts.