Top diplomats of the United States, the European Union and Iran will meet in Vienna next week as a deadline approaches for negotiating a comprehensive agreement over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will have a trilateral meeting on Oct. 15 in the Austrian capital, "as part of the comprehensive nuclear negotiations with Iran," State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said at a daily news briefing.

She said Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden, will meet bilaterally with Iranian officials on Oct. 14 in preparation for the trilateral meeting.

The U.S., along with Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany, is trying to ink a final deal over Iran's nuclear program through negotiations set to end on Nov. 24.

Differences remain over Iran's capacity to enrich uranium, a process that can make fuel for peaceful nuclear uses as Tehran claims, but also for making atomic bombs.

"We continue to believe that there is still adequate time to work through these issues and arrive at a comprehensive agreement that will give the international community assurances that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon," Psaki said. Endite

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