EU/IRAN : NUCLEAR: IRAN AND E3+3 TO MEET IN FEBRUARY.

Tehran and the major powers will resume their talks for a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear programme towards mid-February, said Iran's chief diplomat, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on 25 January.

Tehran and the E3+3 group (the United Kingdom, France, Germany plus Russia, China and the United States) reached an interim deal, in November 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland, that freezes certain of Iran's sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for a partial waiver of Western sanctions. The agreement entered into force on 20 January for six months. It is the first step towards a comprehensive agreement assuring that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful.

"We agreed with [EU High Representative Catherine] Ashton to hold the first meeting between Iran and the 3+3 at the end of the [Iranian] month of Bahman [which ends on 19 February]," writes Zarif on his Facebook page. "We wanted to hold this meeting before then but our Chinese friends were not ready due to the Chinese new year holidays,"...