Foreign Ministers of Britain, France, and Possibly Russia Join Lausanne Negotiations

The third day of the new round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, aimed at reaching a political understanding, will continue on Friday in Lausanne, Switzerland. According to news sources, the foreign ministers of Britain and France, and possibly Russia, are expected to join the discussions in the coming days. Reports from Lausanne indicate that Philip Hammond, the British Foreign Secretary, will arrive in the city on Saturday to participate in the negotiations. Julian Borger, the diplomatic editor of The Guardian, tweeted that Mr. Hammond's weekend trip to Lausanne has been confirmed by the British Foreign Office. Meanwhile, AFP reported on Thursday that Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister, is also traveling to Lausanne to join the negotiations between Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart, John Kerry, on Saturday. Additionally, Hannah Kavyani, a reporter for Radio Farda in Lausanne, cites Russian news sources at the negotiation venue stating that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, is also likely to head to Lausanne to participate in the weekend talks. It is still unclear whether foreign ministers from other countries in the P5+1 group will also travel to Lausanne to join the discussions, but it is anticipated that if the prospects for reaching a political understanding before the set deadline of April 1 improve, the foreign ministers of Germany and China may also join the talks. After the new round of discussions began on Wednesday in Lausanne, the Iranian Foreign Minister and his American counterpart commenced intense and sensitive negotiations on Thursday. According to Radio Farda's reporter from Lausanne, on Thursday night, the deputies of the foreign ministers of the six major world powers and Iran also held discussions. The Radio Farda reporter states that the 'political framework', 'conceptual agreement on the generalities of a comprehensive agreement', or as one Iranian Foreign Ministry official described it in Lausanne, 'joint understanding on common solutions to fundamental issues', whatever it may be called, will only cover the generalities. What Iran and the U.S. have been pursuing in recent days is likely at the level of a statement, and in recent days, Iranian and American officials have denied drafting a more comprehensive document with more details. Iran insists that any agreement must be made all at once and in one stage, and the lifting of sanctions must be 'part of the nuclear negotiations' with the P5+1 countries and without any gap from the agreement. Meanwhile, the British newspaper The Guardian reported on Wednesday, citing a senior European diplomat, that even if this week's negotiations between Iran and global powers lead to an agreement on key aspects of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, much of this agreement will remain confidential until the end of the June deadline. The Guardian quoted this senior European diplomat as saying, 'This week is not the end game. There will be no agreement by the end of this week because an agreement will only be when all the technical details, which are numerous, are agreed upon.' Iran and the P5+1 group have set the end of March (April 1) as their deadline for reaching a general agreement so that they can then, by the end of June (three months later), reach a comprehensive and final agreement on the controversial nuclear program of the Islamic Republic. However, the senior European official told The Guardian that what is more important is the second deadline, which is based on which all details and annexes of an agreement must be completed.