Austria: FM Lavrov and FM Steinmeier meet before Iran nuclear talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier publicly greeted each other just before attending talks on Iran's nuclear programme in Vienna, Tuesday. The meeting took place on 'deadline day' in the latest round of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 powers. The self-imposed deadline, however, has not been kept to. A new deadline of July 7 has been agreed, with all parties focussed on the achievements made thus far and not on what has yet to be achieved. Negotiators from Russia, China, France, Germany, UK, US and Iran started to convene in Vienna last week to try and reach a final agreement on the nuclear deal, ending a decade-long standoff between the West and Iran. In April the group of international mediators and Iran reached a general political framework in Lausanne, Switzerland, to remove sanctions against Iran in return for Tehran decreasing the number of centrifuges and its uranium enrichment activities.