Geneva--US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif began high-stakes talks in Geneva on Saturday to try and hammer out a historic nuclear deal ahead of a June 30 deadline.
US officials warned the coming negotiations would be intense, vowing to "keep the pressure on" to force the Iranians and everyone at the table to make the "tough decisions" needed to end a 12-year standoff and put a nuclear bomb beyond Iran's reach.
Kerry and Zarif arrived simultaneously on the first floor of a top Geneva hotel and greeted each other with smiles and a handshake.
They chatted as they walked together along the corridor to the meeting room.
Asked by a journalist whether they expected to meet the nuclear negotiating deadline, Zarif smiled and said: "We will try." Kerry did not respond.
After an interim accord struck in Geneva in November 2013, Washington and Tehran are trying to fine tune the final details of a ground-breaking agreement that would see Iran curtail its nuclear ambitions in return for a lifting of crippling international sanctions.
Sealing a long-elusive deal with the Islamic republic could give US President Barack Obama his biggest foreign policy achievement yet.
After three decades of enmity, it would also pave the way to bringing Iran back into the international fold and create fresh impetus to resolve a host of conflicts in the Middle East.
The Geneva meeting came as the United States and its partners -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- seek to finalise the complex pact.
AFP
