Kerry to join Iranian nuclear talks

Vienna, July 12 (IANS) US Secretary of State John Kerry would arrive in Vienna to join the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries, media reported Saturday.

According to an official, Kerry is travelling to Vienna for consultations with European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and representatives from P5+1 group - the US, Russia, China, Britain, and France, plus Germany, Xinhua reported.

Kerry is supposed to gauge the extent of Iran's willingness to commit to credible and verifiable steps that will back up its public statements about the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, the official said.

Also, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius would arrive in Vienna Sunday to join the talks.

According to sources, progress has been made in some key issues in the nuclear talks while big gaps still remain regarding Iran's uranium enrichment issue.

According to the interim Geneva nuclear agreement last November, Iran had to take steps to alleviate the concerns of the world powers over its nuclear programme in exchange for a partial lift of economic sanctions posed by the West.

Western states have long suspected the real intention of Iran's atomic plan, saying Iran might covertly develop nuclear weapon.

Iran denies all allegations.