Talks in Geneva between representatives of leading world powers and Iran over that country’s disputed nuclear program are entering their third day.

The November 22 meeting will be the third and last in this round of talks, the third since Iranian President Hassan Rohani was elected in June.

Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany — the so-called P5+1 — are pushing Iran to freeze parts of the nuclear program, which they suspect is aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

In return, they are reportedly offering a partial lifting of international sanctions against Iran.

A spokesman for the P5+1 group’s chief negotiator, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said on November 21 that her talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were “very good.”

He added, however, that the hardest issues remain unresolved and the November 22 talks “will be important.”

Based on reporting by AFP and ITAR-TASS
RFE/RL

Picture: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (left) and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Geneva on November 20