Russia Sees 'Real Opportunity' for Iran Nuclear Deal

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sees a "real opportunity" for the six-party talks with Iran to reach a deal on Tehran's disputed nuclear program, the foreign ministry said Saturday.

In a statement released after Lavrov spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jarad Zarif in Geneva on Friday evening, the Russian ministry called the meeting "a comprehensive and interested exchange of opinions" about how to end disagreements in the negotiations.

"Lavrov underlined that for the first time in many years, the '5+1' and Iran have a real opportunity to come to agreement," the statement quoted Lavrov as saying at the meeting.

Lavrov is to join his counterparts from the P5+1 group -- comprising the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany -- in Geneva on Saturday in a bid to reach an interim accord with Iran on its nuclear program after a decade of failed efforts.

A source in the Russian delegation told Russian news agencies that Lavrov will meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday, and the two will possibly have talks with the U.N.-Arab League envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi.

Lavrov and Zarif discussed "key issues in the parties' positions, which inhibit reaching decisions," the statement said, without elaborating.

Lavrov flew to Geneva on Friday and also had a late meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. No details of that conversation were released to the media.