国际英语新闻:U.S., EU, Iran to meet in Oman over nuke talks

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Oman early next month for meetings with his Iranian and EU counterparts to push for a comprehensive deal over Tehran's nuclear program by Nov. 24, the State Department said Friday.

The top American envoy will be in Muscat, Oman's capital, on Nov. 9-10 for a trilateral meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Catherine Ashton, EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said.

She told reporters that the meeting is part of the EU- coordinated negotiations between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany.

Among the U.S. delegation will be former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, senior adviser Jake Sullivan and the U.S. negotiating team, Psaki said.

Iran and the P5+1 group agreed in July to extend the nuclear talks for another four months till Nov. 24, as they could not narrow down significant gaps on core issues during the past six months.

The two sides met again about two weeks ago in Vienna, Austria without any major breakthrough. Next round of talks are scheduled for Nov. 18 in Vienna, according to Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency.

Tehran is not seeking to extend the talks and trying to reach a comprehensive deal with the six powers before the Nov. 24 deadline, Iran's nuclear negotiator Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi said Tuesday.