国际英语新闻:Timetable for future Iranian nuclear talks set: officials

VIENNA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on Thursday a timetable for the next round of Iranian nuclear talks.

At a joint press conference, speaking of the nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 -- China, Britain, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany -- in Vienna, Ashton said they had "three very productive days," during which the participants "identified all of the issues we need to address in reaching a comprehensive final agreement."

"We have set a timetable of meetings, initially over the next four months with a framework to continue our deliberations," she said.

Ashton also said that there are a lot to do and it would not be easy, but she stressed that "we made a good start."

She also said that technical experts will meet in early March and the involved parties will reconvene for the next world powers' political directors' meetings led by Ashton and Zarif in Vienna on March 17.

A senior U.S. official from the State Department confirmed anonymously that the talks have made some progress, saying they "begin to see some area of agreement."

The official told Xinhua that there are still uncertainties in future talks, adding there has always been fluctuations.

The three-day talks started on Tuesday are based on an interim deal agreed in Geneva last November, in which Iran suspended the most sensitive parts of its nuclear activities in exchange for partial relief of the sanctions slapped on it.