One month to nuclear deadline: U.S. and Iran launch key talks in Geneva

Top U.S. diplomat John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif began key nuclear talks in Geneva on Saturday ahead of a June 30 deadline to reach a historic deal. Kerry and Zarif arrived simultaneously on the first floor of a leading Geneva hotel in opposite elevators and greeted each other with smiles and a handshake. They chatted as they walked together along the corridor to the meeting room on the same floor.

We will try.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, responding to a journalist who asked whether they expected to meet the nuclear negotiating deadline. Kerry did not respond.

After an interim accord hammered out in Geneva in November 2013, Washington and Tehran are grappling with the final details of the ground-breaking agreement that would see Iran curtail its nuclear ambitions in return for a lifting of crippling international sanctions. Speaking ahead of Kerry’s talks with Zarif, senior State Department officials described Iranian transparency and access, and questions about sanctions, as the toughest matters remaining.