This indicates an early step forward in the elusive search for a settlement of the decade-old dispute, even though the sides remain far apart on how to resolve it and both Iran and the United States have publicly stated it may not be possible to reach a final agreement.
Negotiators from Iran and the powers - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia - have been meeting since Tuesday in Vienna to hammer out an agenda for talks on a final deal to the standoff over Tehran's atomic activities.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said, "The involved parties have agreed on an agenda and a framework and the next round of talks will be in the second half of March in Vienna."
A senior US state department official earlier said about the second day of talks on Wednesday, "Today's discussions, which covered both process and substance, were constructive and useful."
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who heads the Iranian delegation, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who presides over the delegations of the six world powers, ended their last round of talks minutes ago.
The six world powers and Iran strived at a second day of talks in Vienna on Wednesday to map out a broad agenda for reaching an ambitious final settlement to the decade-old standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.
The G5+1 wants a long-term agreement on the permissible scope of Tehran's nuclear activities to lay to rest concerns that they could be put to developing atomic bombs. Tehran's priority is a complete removal of damaging economic sanctions against it.
The negotiations will probably extend at least over several months, and could help defuse years of hostility between energy-exporting Iran and the West, ease the danger of a new war in the Middle East, transform the regional power balance and open up major business opportunities for Western firms.
