US Secretary of State John Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Paris on Friday to discuss negotiations for a nuclear deal

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Paris on Friday to discuss negotiations for a nuclear deal, a US official said.
  
Zarif and Kerry were taking the opportunity to meet again with both in the French capital on separate diplomatic trips. Their talks began around 2:40pm (1340 GMT), a US official said.

Earlier this week, Zarif and Kerry held a marathon six-hour round of talks in Geneva in a bid to nail down a deal.

Zarif is also due to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius while in Paris.

The Iranian foreign minister is also scheduled to travel to the EU’s de facto capital, Brussels, as he steps up his diplomatic efforts to facilitate the achievement of a comprehensive deal aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over Tehran’s nuclear activities.

The meetings come as Tehran and its negotiating partners are set to kick off a fresh round of nuclear talks in Geneva on January 18.