Geneva, February 28 (RHC)-- Political directors from Iran and the P5+1 group’s foreign ministries will hold a fresh round of talks about Tehran’s nuclear program in Montreux, Switzerland, on March 5th, according to the European Union.

A series of bilateral meetings will be also held prior to the planned high-level talks between negotiators from Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, EU spokeswoman, Catherine Ray, told reporters on Friday. Earlier, the U.S. State Department announced that Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry will meet in Montreux next week.

Nuclear talks between representatives from Iran and the United States started on February 22nd in the Swiss city of Geneva and the two sides held three rounds of talks in two days in an attempt to narrow differences ahead of a key July 1st deadline for reaching a comprehensive deal. Both the Iranian and U.S. top diplomats said some progress was made toward a final deal.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva earlier this week after the end of nuclear talks, Zarif said the parties involved in the negotiations succeeded in making “some progress” on certain issues “but we have a long way ahead to reach a final agreement.” A senior US official also said that the U.S. made some progress in talks with Iran on its nuclear program and managed to "sharpen up some of the tough issues."

The Geneva talks were part of attempts by Iran and the P5+1 countries -- Britain, France, China, Russia, and the United States plus Germany -- to narrow their differences on the outstanding issues related to Tehran's nuclear program.