Kerry, Zarif Meet in Geneva

January 15, 2015

On January 14, Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held intensive meetings in Geneva on the eve of nuclear talks between Iran and the world’s six major powers—Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. The session was intended to “show the readiness of the two parties to move forward to speed up the [negotiations] process,” Zarif told reporters before meeting Kerry. “All issues are hard until we resolve them.”

The U.S.-Iran relationship has become the most critical angle of nuclear talks. The other world powers seem to have deferred to the United States to break ground with Iran. And Iranian negotiators know that Washington will have the final word on sanctions relief in any deal.

 

 
Kerry and Zarif “had substantive meetings for approximately five hours” and “discussed a broad range of issues,” according to the State Department. The two held a morning session and an afternoon session, which included an unusual walk along the streets of Geneva.
 
 
 
 

 

Zarif and Kerry also held  unscheduled late-night meeting.

On January 16, the two met again in Paris. The two had previously scheduled meetings with others, but they carved out time to meet again to continue closing gaps.

 

 

Photo credits: U.S. State Department via Flickr