The meeting started after British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his French, US and German counterparts Laurent Fabius, John Kerry and Guido Westerwelle traveled to Geneva on Friday and Saturday and are due to be joined by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to hold a high-profile meeting with Zarif over a final deal on Iran's nuclear program.
The Iranian and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany) delegations have gathered in Geneva for the third time in the last few months and been holding intense negotiations since Wednesday to find a way for the settlement of Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West.
Zarif told reporters after four rounds of talks with Ashton in Geneva on Friday that negotiations have become serious and hopes for striking a deal are still alive.
Also, Westerwelle who arrived in Geneva earlier today announced that Iran and the G5+1 now have a “real chance” for resolving their decade-long nuclear standoff.
“There is a real chance for an agreement, but we have many things to do,” Westerwelle told reporters upon arrival at Geneva's Intercontinental Hotel where the negotiations are underway between Iran and the world powers.
Also, a senior Iranian negotiator expressed the hope that the top diplomats of the Group 5+1 who have arrived in Geneva in the last two days for a final deal over Tehran's nuclear program will be ready to take hard decisions to enable the negotiations to move forward.
“The fourth day of negotiations is hard and breathtaking,” Deputy Foreign Minister and Senior Negotiator in the talks with the world powers Seyed Abbas Araqchi said in Geneva on Saturday.
“The foreign ministers (of the G5+1) have arrived and I hope that they will be ready for taking hard decisions,” he added.