LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Foreign ministers from nations negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran joined talks Saturday as grim-looking negotiators suggested they are still far from bridging their differences.
Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to have a working lunch with the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, who arrived late Saturday morning, and his counterpart from Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The foreign ministers from Britain, Russia and China were expected later this weekend.
The French and German diplomats made clear that they had come to Lausanne not just to formalize an agreement that was nearing completion but to help with negotiations that are floundering.
“I am coming here with the desire to move toward a robust agreement,” Fabius said on his arrival. “We have made progress on certain issues but not enough on others.”
Steinmeier said the talks are in their “decisive days.”
Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz met for a third day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iran’s nuclear energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi. They wryly hinted at the long road ahead of them. When a reporter asked, just before the talks began, whether they were expecting a good day in negotiations, Kerry replied, “We’re expecting an evening today.”
Zarif, on the other side of the table, chimed in, “Evening, night, midnight, morning.”
The negotiators are facing a deadline of midnight Tuesday for reaching a broad agreement that would outline the conditions for a final deal on limits to Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing international sanctions. An interim agreement does not expire until June 30, so they have three more months to iron out many details.
