Iran nuclear negotiations resume in Geneva

GENEVA, Switzerland, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Iranian nuclear negotiations resumed Wednesday in Geneva, marking the first round of talks since the Nov. 24 deadline expired without agreement.

International negotiators vowed in November to continue the talks for an additional seven months.

Delegates from Iran and the the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) plus Germany -- gathered Wednesday in Geneva for a two-hour session.

The Iranian delegation, led by deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araghchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi, met later in the day with Russian and Chinese envoys for separate bilateral discussions. Araghchi and Ravanchi were also expected to hold a meeting with British, French and German delegates.

Bilateral talks were held in the days leading up to the official resumption of multi-party negotiations.

On Tuesday, the Iranian deputy foreign ministers met for 10 hours with the U.S. delegation, headed by acting deputy Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The advance meeting was chaired by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the agenda at the lengthy meeting "included every possible aspect of the nuclear negotiations in this round of talks."

Araghchi, Iran's senior negotiator, said he was satisfied with the "general atmosphere" as the latest round of talks began.