25-11-2024 05:00 PM Jerusalem Timing

Lavrov Flies to Geneva as Iran Nuclear Talks Extended

Lavrov Flies to Geneva as Iran Nuclear Talks Extended

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew to Geneva on Saturday as talks over Iran nuclear program was extended for third day.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew to Geneva on Saturday as talks over Iran nuclear program was extended for third day.

"Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is currently flying out to Switzerland," Interfax  news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying.

Another source told Interfax that Moscow expected foreign ministers from the so-called P5+1 group of the five permanent UN SeNuclear talks in Geneva last month (archive)curity Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and Germany to conduct a joint meeting in Geneva on Saturday.

"We hope that a meeting (of the P5+1) will take place with the involvement of all the ministers, including Lavrov," the Russian diplomatic source said.
Iranian and international negotiators are spending a third day negotiating the first steps toward reining in Tehran's nuclear program and easing harsh sanctions.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, had raised expectations of a deal, and several Western foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, have rushed to join the talks.

Kerry interrupted a trip through the Middle East to fly to Geneva, where he sat down with key European foreign ministers and then held a long session with Zarif.

Talks broke late Friday evening. A European Union spokesman called the talks “intense” and “good.” A senior State Department official said the meeting made progress, but there is still more work to do.