Kerry and Zarif continue nuclear talks in Paris

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart Jawad Zarif in Paris on Friday to hold talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.

According to a State Department spokesman, they talked for about an hour, continuing the conversation started earlier this week in Geneva. According to the source, Kerry and Zarif agreed to stay in touch and meet again in the coming weeks.

Kerry came to Paris to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks last week.

Earlier this week, US officials described Kerry’s and Zarif’s talks in Geneva as “substantive.”

Iran and the six world mediating powers (USA, UK, China, France, Germany and Russia) are trying to reach a final agreement on the Iranian nuclear program by the deadline set for July 1.

Negotiations were extended after the participants failed to complete the task by an earlier deadline of November.

On Thursday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stated that the nuclear negotiations with Iran had reached the “crucial phase”, and time could no longer be lost. According to him, the interim agreement cannot be extended indefinitely.

The so-called “5 + 1” group is seeking from Iran to partially curtail the uranium enrichment program in order to prevent the creation of an atomic bomb. In exchange, it is proposed to soften the sanctions against Iran.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.

Source - Voice of America