Iran Talks Extended as Foreign Ministers Join

November 22, 2013

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is flying to Geneva, as negotiators there work late into the night toward an agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program and easing economic sanctions. The State Department says he is going "with the hope that an agreement will be reached."

Kerry will fly overnight to join the talks. The State Department says he will try to “help narrow the differences and move closer to an agreement.”

His Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, arrived in Geneva Friday and had a meeting with Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The United States and Russia are two of the six countries designated by the United Nations Security Council to conduct these talks. Foreign ministers from the others - Britain, France, Germany and China - also may come to Geneva, as they did during the last round of negotiations two weeks ago.

The decision for Kerry to come was made late Friday, after what a spokesman called “intensive, detailed discussions” over three days.

Negotiators have described the talks as “very hard,” but a former British ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton, said both sides have a stake in reaching an agreement, and failure this week would be a serious setback.

“It would be extremely unfortunate, because as we've seen between second and third rounds, both sides seem to have toughened up their position in some respects. So, if we see a failure now, it won't be any easier to find compromises,” said Dalton.