GENEVA
Iran's deputy foreign minister described Wednesday's nuclear talks with the six major world powers as "very useful" and said the next meeting would take place in January.
Abbas Araqchi's comments came after a one-day meeting behind closed doors in Geneva held between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the U.S., U.K., China, France and Russia -- plus Germany, also known as the P5+1 group.
"We had very intense negotiations. It was very useful and helpful," he told reporters.
"We had both bilateral discussions as well as a plenary with all the members of the group,” he said.
We decided to continue talks next month and the exact date will be fixed through diplomatic channels, he added.
Both sides had failed to meet the Nov. 24 deadline in Vienna for a permanent settlement to the nuclear issue.
The negotiations in the Austrian capital were supposed to be the final round of talks between Iran and the world powers' group.
However, the deadline for a permanent settlement with Iran was extended until the end of June next year with the aim of what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described as "finishing the political agreement," by March.
The so called P5+1 countries believe that Iran is developing nuclear weapons and want Iran to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.
However, Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes.
Kerry had said earlier that "Today Iran has no 20 percent enriched uranium – zero, none – and they have diluted or converted every ounce that they had and suspended all uranium enrichment above five percent."
Tehran agreed to limit certain aspects of its controversial nuclear program in exchange for some relief in international sanctions under a deal reached in November, 2013 in Geneva.
Iran will not proceed with uranium enrichment as long as negotiations with the six world powers on a permanent nuclear agreement continue, the director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said ahead of the Geneva talks.
“We currently have nearly 20,000 installed centrifuges, some 9,000 of which are operating and another 9,000 centrifuges are being installed, but are not operational. As long as the negotiations are ongoing, we have no intention of activating the 9,000 additional machines,” Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said.
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