Iranian foreign minister 'hopeful' on nuclear framework agreement
US Secretary of State John Kerry will join the P5+1 talks in Geneva amid expectations of a possible deal.
GENEVA — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he planned to draft a framework with representatives of six world powers — the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany, or P5+1 — on Friday, while negotiations seemed to gather such pace that there was a talk that an agreement could even be signed on Friday or Saturday. US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Geneva Friday to join the talks, a US official confirmed to Al-Monitor late Thursday.
“Secretary Kerry will travel to Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday at the invitation of EU High Representative [Catherine] Ashton in an effort to help narrow differences in negotiations,” the senior State Department official said.
"We are talking about a framework agreement that includes three steps: objectives, end game, and a first step," Zarif told Al-Monitor in an interview Thursday, one of a series he gave in his Geneva hotel at the conclusion of the first day of a new round of nuclear talks that were stunning for their sense of new-found, high-speed momentum after years of no progress.
"If there is political will, it is not so difficult," Zarif said. "We are hopeful we can do it. My preference is to be able to move forward quickly."
"We have to see," he said. "It's too early to judge."
