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"Minister Zarif and Secretary Kerry are highly likely to meet
this afternoon in Paris," an Iranian diplomatic source told
Reuters. Kerry is in the French capital to honor the 17 victims
killed in last week's shooting in France, and Zarif is due to
meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius later in the day.
A senior State Department official confirmed the two men would
meet on Friday following talks this week in Geneva.
Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Britain, France,
Germany, Russia and China -- have renewed their quest for an
elusive nuclear deal - seen as crucial to reducing the risk of a
wider Middle East war - after negotiators failed for the second
time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline.
The new deadline for a long-term agreement is June 30.
The major powers hope to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear
program, which the West suspects may seek to develop atomic
weapons, in exchange for a gradual easing of economic sanctions.
Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
In a New Year's address to the foreign and French diplomatic
corps on Friday, President Francois Hollande said questions were
unanswered over Iran's uranium enrichment and the production of
fissile material that could be used to create a nuclear bomb.
"France wants a definitive agreement, but with a clear line: yes
for Iran to have civilian nuclear power, but no to military
nuclear power. We will be intransigent on this principle," he
said.
France, a U.N. Security Council veto-holder, has long held out
for strict terms for a nuclear deal trading a loosening of
international sanctions on Iran's oil-based economy in return
for commitments by Tehran to show its nuclear work is as
peaceful as it says.
(Reporting By John Irish and Arshad Mohammed; editing by Mark
John)
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