U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Geneva Friday for talks on Iran's nuclear program, amid signs an elusive deal is within reach.
The State Department says it hopes Kerry's presence will "help narrow differences" in the negotiations between Iran and six world powers.
Before heading for the Swiss city, Kerry met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants Iran's nuclear program completely dismantled.
Speaking ahead of his meeting with Kerry, Netanyahu told reporters that Iran "got everything and paid nothing."
"Iran got the deal of the century and the international community got a bad deal. This is a very bad deal and Israel utterly rejects it."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was also headed to join the Geneva talks, which aim to convince Iran to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told CNN on Thursday he believes an agreement can be reached before the close of negotiations Friday.
Tehran is seeking an end to sanctions that have devastated its economy, while the six nations want assurances Iran is not building nuclear bombs.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said the deal being discussed would offer "modest relief" from the sanctions, but that most would stay in place.
"We can provide them some very modest, relief, but keeping the sanctions architecture in place, keeping the core sanctions in place, so that if it turned out during the course of the six months when we're trying to resolve some these bigger issues that they're backing out of deal or they're not following through on it, or they're not willing to go forward and finish the job of giving us assurances that they're not developing a nuclear weapon, we can crank that dial back up."
President Obama told NBC News there is a possibility of a phased agreement, the first part of which would stop Iran from further expanding its nuclear program.
It is unclear what Iran is willing to concede. Foreign Minister Zarif said Tehran is not willing to suspend its uranium enrichment program entirely, but would consider scaling it back.
This is the second meeting of the so-called P5+1 talks since Iranian President Hasan Rouhani took power in August, on promises of reaching a nuclear deal with the West.
Observers say Kerry's last minute-decision to head to the talks suggest a deal could be imminent. But negotiators warn the two sides still disagree over how much Tehran will scale back its nuclear program.
The State Department says it hopes Kerry's presence will "help narrow differences" in the negotiations between Iran and six world powers.
Before heading for the Swiss city, Kerry met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants Iran's nuclear program completely dismantled.
Speaking ahead of his meeting with Kerry, Netanyahu told reporters that Iran "got everything and paid nothing."
"Iran got the deal of the century and the international community got a bad deal. This is a very bad deal and Israel utterly rejects it."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was also headed to join the Geneva talks, which aim to convince Iran to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif told CNN on Thursday he believes an agreement can be reached before the close of negotiations Friday.
Tehran is seeking an end to sanctions that have devastated its economy, while the six nations want assurances Iran is not building nuclear bombs.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said the deal being discussed would offer "modest relief" from the sanctions, but that most would stay in place.
"We can provide them some very modest, relief, but keeping the sanctions architecture in place, keeping the core sanctions in place, so that if it turned out during the course of the six months when we're trying to resolve some these bigger issues that they're backing out of deal or they're not following through on it, or they're not willing to go forward and finish the job of giving us assurances that they're not developing a nuclear weapon, we can crank that dial back up."
President Obama told NBC News there is a possibility of a phased agreement, the first part of which would stop Iran from further expanding its nuclear program.
It is unclear what Iran is willing to concede. Foreign Minister Zarif said Tehran is not willing to suspend its uranium enrichment program entirely, but would consider scaling it back.
This is the second meeting of the so-called P5+1 talks since Iranian President Hasan Rouhani took power in August, on promises of reaching a nuclear deal with the West.
Observers say Kerry's last minute-decision to head to the talks suggest a deal could be imminent. But negotiators warn the two sides still disagree over how much Tehran will scale back its nuclear program.