AFP- Geneva — Iranian and US delegations held “useful” bilateral talks Tuesday evening on the sidelines of high-profile nuclear talks in Geneva, a senior State Department official said.
“As had been expected, Under Secretary (Wendy) Sherman and members of the US delegation held a bilateral meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister (Abbas) Araqchi and members of the Iranian delegation tonight,” the US official said.
The meeting lasted nearly an hour, the source added.
A figure close to Iran’s nuclear negotiation team also confirmed the talks, but did not provide details.
The rare meeting came after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his US counterpart John Kerry held a 30-minute face-to-face discussion in New York last month on the sidelines of talks within the framework of the so-called P5+1 group.
The last time Iranian and American delegations held bilateral meetings was in October 2009.
Iran’s two-day Geneva talks with the European Union-chaired P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia, plus Germany — ends a six-month freeze sparked by its refusal to curb uranium enrichment in exchange for the easing of punishing international sanctions.
Tehran said it had presented a potentially “breakthrough” proposal to end a decade-long standoff with world powers on Tuesday.
