US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters at Kuwait International Airport before boarding a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft bound for Bahrain on Wednesday (local time). [AP]
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters at Kuwait International Airport before boarding a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft bound for Bahrain on Wednesday (local time). [AP]

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that working-level talks with Iran on denuclearization and related issues will be held in Switzerland on June 29 or 30.

Speaking to reporters in Kuwait during a tour of Gulf states, Rubio said the technical negotiating teams tasked with implementing a previously signed memorandum of understanding would "meet again on the 29th or 30th," Reuters and AFP reported.

"They are divided into several thematic working groups. They will return to Switzerland," Rubio said. "The working groups will meet again — I think it will be the 30th."

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andraabi also said at a regular briefing Wednesday that the talks "appear set to resume next week, possibly on Tuesday the 30th," while adding that Monday the 29th or Wednesday July 1 were also possible dates.

Andraabi did not specify which country would host the talks. Pakistan, along with Qatar, has been serving as a mediator in the working-level negotiations that followed the signing of the US-Iran MOU.

Taken together, the statements from the US and Pakistani sides point to June 30 as the most likely date for the resumption of talks, with Switzerland — where the first round of working-level discussions was held — the probable venue.

The United States and Iran signed the MOU on June 14, after which they held high-level talks at Bürgenstock, Switzerland, to begin implementing it, followed by the first round of working-level negotiations that ran through Tuesday.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com