US Secretary of State Kerry meets with Iran foreign minister
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on April 27 in New York, a senior State Department official said on April 26.
The meeting on the sidelines of the five-year review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that begins on April 27 will come as the United States and five other global powers try to secure a final nuclear deal with Iran by a June 30 deadline.
Kerry will also meet on April 27 with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the State Department official said.
Under a tentative deal reached April 2 between Iran and the other countries, Tehran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, agreed to slash the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges it operates and to allow more intrusive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency in exchange for sanctions relief.
Diplomats need to iron out details about the timing of sanctions relief, the future of Iran's atomic research and development program, the exact nature of the IAEA's monitoring regime and what kind of uranium stockpile Tehran will be allowed to keep under any final deal.
US Republican senators have pledged to try to toughen a bill giving Congress the power to review a nuclear agreement with Iran.