Ashton and Zarif meet on eve of 3rd round of Iranian nuclear negotiations

VIENNA, April 7 (UPI) -- Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European External Action Service, is in Vienna for the third round of Iranian nuclear discussions.

Ashton dined with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif Monday evening prior to the official start of the talks. Her spokesman tweeted a photo of their meeting.

Delegates from the P5+1 countries -- the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States) plus Germany -- will join Zarif and Ashton on Tuesday to continue working toward a comprehensive Iranian nuclear agreement.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi, speaking to Iran's Press TV, expressed his country's objective for the talks.

"We hope that in the upcoming talks, we would be able to bring the views closer and narrow the differences regarding major issues, so we could get to the details ... and start writing the text."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov conveyed cautious optimism Monday that a final agreement could be reached by July 20. "These spring months are key months as there is still time" but, Ryabkov cautioned, "this will require additional efforts."

The gathering in Vienna will be the third meeting of the P5+1 since the Joint Plan of Action was implemented in January.

[Islamic Republic News Agency] [ITAR-TASS News Agency]