LATEST: Journalist and “Blogfather” Hossein Derakhshan Pardoned After 6 Years in Prison

UPDATE 2000 GMT: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and US Secretary of State John Kerry greet each other in Vienna:

KERRY ZARIF ASHTON

UPDATE 1200 GMT: The US State Department has confirmed that Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Vienna later Thursday to join the nuclear talks.

Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry will meet Thursday evening with the American negotiating team before talks with other delegations.

Psaki spoke shortly after Kerry held talks in Paris with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, and before he met French counterpart Laurent Fabius. Before coming to France, Kerry had two days of Iran-related meetings in London.

Iran’s President Rouhani has declared that a comprehensive nuclear deal with the 5+1 Powers is possible in talks in Vienna, as the two sides face a November 24 deadline.

Rouhani said on Wednesday night, “If the opposite party in the negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran has the political will for a deal and avoids excessive demands, the conditions are prepared for the conclusion of a deal.”

The President repeated that an agreement should “”preserve and guarantee the rights of the Iranian nation” to a nuclear program for civilian purposes, and should “further stabilize the region”.

Rouhani noted that a long-term deal over Iran’s civilian nuclear activities will be in the interest of all countries, emphasizing that such an accord would fix economic problems in the world.

The President’s statement filled a void in news from the talks, which began on Tuesday. Iranian officials met counterparts from Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany in bilateral sessions, a day after they sat down with the senior American negotiators.

A BBC reporter summarized the lack of public information about the discussions:

Interim arrangements over Iran’s nuclear program, agreed in November 2013, expire on Monday.

Key issues to be resolved included the number and level of Iran’s centrifuges for uranium enrichment, the lifting of US-led sanctions, and the duration of an agreement.

Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, who met Rouhani on Wednesday, called for a firm Iranian line, “If the opposite side intends to raise excessive demands to make us withdraw from our rights, they should know that our nation will never bow to such demands.”

Speaking to judiciary officials, Larijani demanded that Iranian negotiators in Vienna not waver, “If the negotiating side senses that we have withdrawn a step, they will come several steps forward.”

And he insisted that the lifting of sanctions on Tehran, which have crippled Iran’s oil exports and other sectors such as finance since 2012, must be permanent:

No new sanctions should be imposed against Iran on any new pretext, that is to say the situation shouldn’t be in a way that they lift the present sanctions today, but impose new ones on the pretext of ballistic missiles or human rights issues tomorrow.

Journalist and “Blogfather” Hossein Derakhshan Pardoned After 6 Years in Prison

BBC Persian reports that Iranian-Canadian journalist Hossein Derakhshan has been pardoned after more than six years in prison.

Derakhshan, nicknamed the “Blogfather” for his leading place in the launch of blogs in Iran more than a decade ago, was arrested on November 1, 2008. He was sentenced in September 2010 to 19 1/2 years in prison, later reduced to 17 years on appeal.

Derakhshan announced his pardon on his Google+ page today, giving thanks to the Supreme Leader and to those who supported him during his time in prison.