Geneva talks end inconclusively but hope remains

Geneva – Though talks between the world powers and Iran failed to reach an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme once again, there were signs of progress at the conclusion and optimism for the next round to be held Nov 20.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told a press conference that there had been a lot of “concrete progress but some differences remain”, BBC reported.

The three-day talks between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany, and Iran, were held in Geneva. But the two sides failed to nail down an interim deal as expected.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he was not disappointed with the outcome, and that the talks were “something we can build on”. He said all parties were “on the same wavelength” and “there was the impetus to reach an agreement”.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “There is no question in my mind that we are closer now than we were before.”

According to Xinhua, the European Union foreign policy chief said the world powers and Iran would reconvene talks over the latter’s controversial nuclear programme Nov 20.