US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz was headed to Geneva today to join talks with Iranian officials as efforts for an historic nuclear deal stepped up a gear.
It was the first time that Moniz, who is himself a nuclear physicist, had joined the negotiations, although US energy officials have been involved in the intensive technical talks under way ahead of new meetings between the countries' top diplomats on Sunday and Monday.
"At the request of Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will travel to Geneva on Saturday to join Secretary Kerry in continued negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme," an energy department spokesman said.
A second day of technical talks was to be held topday and the director of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi flew to Geneva to meet Moniz as part those discussions, Iranian officials said.
Senior negotiators from the six powers, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia as well as the United States, are also to meet in Geneva on Sunday in a bid to drive the talks forward, the European Union said.
That target aims to ensure that a full agreement including all the technical details can be signed by a June 30 deadline, which looms all the larger after two previous deadlines were missed.
"We won't have a two-stage deal," deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said.
The technical aspects include the detailed arrangements for Iran's future enrichment of uranium.
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