U.S. Secretary of State to Join Iran Nuclear Talks in Geneva

Edited by Juan Leandro
2013-11-23 13:00:31

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Geneva, November 23 (RHC)-- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is leaving Geneva to join the ongoing talks on Iran’s nuclear energy program, the U.S. State Department has announced.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Kerry travelled to Geneva late Friday after consulting with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and the U.S. negotiating team in the Swiss city.

She noted that Kerry's decision to head to Geneva was "not a prediction of the outcome." Earlier in the day, the White House expressed hope that a deal will be reached through the ongoing talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany -- which started on Wednesday.

Commenting on the talks held so far, Psaki said "there are tough issues on the table" and the negotiating teams had decided to narrow down the meetings to include just Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Geneva on Friday evening and held a bilateral meeting with his Iranian counterpart. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also plans to head to Geneva to join the negotiations.

Iran and the six countries are working to hammer out an interim deal to pave the ground for the resolution of the West’s decade-old standoff with Iran over its nuclear energy program.



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