US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 15 to meet with his Iranian counterpart as part of continuing talks on Tehran's nuclear program.
Kerry will sit down with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for the ongoing "P5+1" nuclear talks, the State Department said on Monday, as negotiators race to beat a March 31 deadline for reaching a deal.
Talks with Iran, which have gone on for more than a year, aim to prevent the Islamic republic from acquiring a nuclear arsenal.
A final deal is meant to be concluded by the end of June.
Under discussion are guarantees to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb and a lifting of Western sanctions against the country.
The negotiations have included US-Iran bilateral talks as well as discussions among the P5+1: Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
Meanwhile, Zarif on Monday dismissed as of "no legal value" a letter from 47 US senators warning that any nuclear deal will require Congressional approval.
In an open letter to the Islamic republic, the 47 Republicans, including Senate leaders and several potential 2016 presidential candidates, reminded Iranian leaders that President Barack Obama is in office only until January 2017, and a successor could scrap the agreement if Congress has not approved it.
"We believe that the letter has no legal value and is propaganda," Zarif said, quoted in Iranian media.
"The senators must know that under international law, Congress cannot change the content of the agreement.
"Any congressional action to prevent the implementation of any agreement will violate the international commitments of the (US) government.
"The world is not just in America," Zarif added.
The letter appeared to be another bid to influence or even derail the talks, and marked a rare foray by Congress into US foreign policymaking, as negotiating with foreign governments is a responsibility typically handled by the executive branch, not lawmakers.
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