Kerry joins Iran nuclear program talks in Geneva

PHILIPPE WOJAZER/POOL/EPA

Secretary of State John Kerry (left), seen here with French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius on Friday, is heading to Geneva to participate in talks about Iran’s nuclear program.

GENEVA — Secretary of State Kerry is heading to Geneva to join negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program, the State Department announced Friday.

The trip raised expectations that a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program could be in the works. The talks had been scheduled to end Friday.

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State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry would arrive early Saturday, joining Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

They will lend weight to negotiations aimed at beginning a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing U.S. and international sanctions.

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Negotiators have been working since Wednesday to find language acceptable to Iran and its six negotiating partners — the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany. As negotiations moved into the evening, a diplomat in Geneva for the talks said some progress was being made on a key sticking point — Iran’s claim to a right to produce nuclear fuel.

Iran says it is enriching only for reactor fuel, medical uses and research. But the technology can also produce nuclear warhead material.