The US Secretary of State says no agreement has been reached yet between world powers and Iran over its nuclear programme. <br /><br />John Kerry cut short his tour of the Middle East to come to Geneva unexpectedly for talks with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, amid speculation that a deal was imminent.<br /><br />It is thought Iran might agree to limit its nuclear programme in return for a partial lifting of sanctions.<br /><br />“I want to emphasise there are still some very important issues on the table that are unresolved. It is important for those to be thoroughly and properly addressed. I want to emphasise there is not an agreement at this point but the P5 is working hard,” Kerry told reporters upon his arrival.<br /><br />The world powers involved in talks with Iran are the US, UK, France, Russia and China – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – plus Germany. The group is known as the P5+1.<br /><br />The presence of other Western foreign ministers in Geneva added to a sense of optimism. In London Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said the talks offered the chance of “real progress”.<br /><br />But diplomats say a breakthrough is uncertain and would anyway only mark the first step in a long process.<br /><br />“Today, we need to start putting it on paper so that we have a draft, a joint draft. Not two separate drafts that we will start negotiating over but a joint draft that we can both call our own,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif before Friday’s talks started. <br /><br />Watching the talks closely, Israel has said it utterly rejects what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says would be the “deal of the century” for Iran.<br /><br />It believes Iran’s enrichment facilities should be dismantled before any sanctions are lifted.<br /><br />Euronews correspondent in Geneva Fariba Mavaddat said: “There’s a sense here that these talks are shifting into a final phase, with a series of individual bi-lateral meetings between Iran and the other foreign ministers. And that makes it look as though there’s a long night ahead.”
