Bargaining on Walking

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif have held two rounds of talks on Tehran's nuclear program.

The two leaders met for five hours before another unscheduled meeting in the evening on January 14 in Geneva.

A U.S. State Department official described the discussions as "substantive."

Zarif had said the meeting would help gauge whether both sides were ready to advance toward a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Zarif and Kerry met a day before U.S. and Iranian delegations were to meet in Geneva.

Wendy Sherman, U.S. acting deputy secretary of state, and Abbas Araqchi, Iranian deputy foreign minister, are to lead their delegations on January 15 for discussions expected to focus on the technical issues of the negotiations.

That is to be followed on January 18 by wider talks between Iran and six world powers.