Kerry arrives in Geneva for Iran talks
US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Switzerland to hold talks with officials on Iran’s nuclear energy program and the crisis in Ukraine.
On Sunday night, the top US diplomat landed in Geneva, where he will hold a series of meetings over the next three days with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and foreign ministers of countries involved in the Iran nuclear talks.
Iran and the P5+1 group of states – the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany – are holding negotiations to narrow remaining differences ahead of a July 1 deadline for the final agreement.
The scale of Iran’s uranium enrichment and the timetable for the lifting of anti-Iran sanctions are seen as major sticking points in the talks.
Talks between representatives from Iran and the United States started on February 22 in Geneva and the two sides held three rounds of talks in two days. Both Iranian and American diplomats said some progress was made toward a final agreement.
On Monday, Kerry will also meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the crisis in Ukraine.
Last week, Kerry accused Russia of violating the terms of the Minsk ceasefire.
On February 12, marathon negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel resulted in a new ceasefire deal for eastern Ukraine in the Belarusian capital Minsk.
The ceasefire was meant to take effect on February 15. Under the terms of the deal, both Kiev and pro-Russian fighters agreed to start pulling back heavy weapons from the frontline.
The pro-Russian fighters have been withdrawing heavy weapons for the last couple of days, but Kiev had held back from implementing the withdrawal.
However, on Thursday, troops loyal to the regime in Kiev reportedly towed artillery away from the front line in the eastern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Kerry blamed President Putin for implementing policies in eastern Ukraine that “violate all the international norms.”
"To date, neither Russia nor the forces it is supporting have come close to complying with their commitments," Kerry told the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
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