Tehran, Jan 9 (IANS): The Iranian foreign minister and the US secretary of state will meet in Geneva next week to discuss Tehran's nuclear issue, a senior negotiator said Friday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif and his US counterpart John Kerry will travel to the Swiss city next Wednesday for the meeting prior to bilateral talks of their deputies, Xinhua news agency cited Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as saying.

Iran will first hold bilateral negotiations with the US in Geneva Jan 15-17, and then talks at the deputy foreign ministerial level Jan 18 with the P5 1 group, namely China, France, Russia, Britain, the US plus Germany, Araqchi said.

Talks between Iran and the world powers resumed Dec 17, 2014, just weeks after failing to meet a Nov 24 deadline for a comprehensive nuclear deal due to significant gaps over Iran's uranium enrichment abilities and how the sanctions should be removed.

Tehran and the world powers later agreed to extend their talks to July this year.