State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the meeting is in line with the agreement’s Joint Plan of Action (JCPOA).
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The U.S.-educated, fluent English-speaking Zarif has emerged as the smiling face of Iran’s diplomacy, developing a close rapport with Kerry in unprecedented face-to-face talks.
Administration officials then told some congressional staffers confidentially that something big involving Iran was in the works, in an apparent attempt to tamp down criticism from Capitol Hill, a congressional source said. Some U.S. sanctions will remain in effect.
Despite official rejoicing by the negotiating partners, implementation comes at a particularly inauspicious time for Iran and the United States.
The House voted this week 191-106 to make it hard to the United States to lift the sanctions, but more than 130 lawmakers missed the vote, so it will likely come up again this month.
The UN will reimpose sanctions if Iran violates the agreement in the next decade. Iran says it has the right to nuclear energy – and stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.
Certification by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would allow Iran to immediately recoup some $100 billion in assets frozen overseas.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Sunni Saudi Arabia, Iran’s other great regional rival, is also alarmed at the prospect of warmer US-Iran ties and of predominantly Shiite Iran, newly flush with oil revenues, increasing its influence.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will hold talks with Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in the Austrian capital.
Iran’s IRNA news agency released the names of the seven Iranians it said would be released, naming them as Nader Modanlo, Bahram Mechanic, Khosrow Afghahi, Arash Ghahreman, Tooraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh and Ali Sabouni.
The EU, which on Friday said it was ready to act as soon as the IAEA gave the green light, will initially provide Iran with far more relief than the United States.
Under the front-page headline “Nuclear Burial”, Hard-line daily Vatan-e-Emrooz on Saturday criticized the removal of the core of Iran’s only heavy water reactor, which was filled in with cement earlier this week as one of the final steps under the agreement.
The deal will bring an end to 10 years of isolations for Tehran who has been banned from trading with the US.
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US non-nuclear sanctions related to terrorism and other Iranian activities remain in place.
