Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The foreign ministers of six world powers are meeting in Geneva to negotiate a deal with Iran over its contentious nuclear program.

The Iranian envoy, along with British, Chinese, French, German and Russian foreign ministers, appeared to be on the verge an elusive breakthrough in the decade-old dispute.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will join the talks on Saturday.

The envoys are set to negotiate on a deal under which Iran would curb its atomic activity in exchange for some relief from economic sanctions.

Diplomats in the Swiss city said a major sticking point in the talks, which began on Wednesday, may have been overcome.

A senior European diplomat told reporters earlier that foreign ministers of the six states would come to Geneva only if there was a deal to sign. “We have made progress, including core issues,” the diplomat said, in statements carried by Reuters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Friday, a Russian spokeswoman said.

Echoing optimism that a deal was close, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying the talks “have reached the final moment.” The country’s foreign minister left Beijing for Geneva early on Saturday.

Kerry left for talks in Geneva with aims to move closer to a deal, U.S. officials were quoted as saying.

Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that Kerry decided to travel to Geneva “in light of the progress being made” and with “the hope that an agreement will be reached.”

Diplomats said a compromise over Iran’s insistence that its “right” to enrich uranium be internationally recognized has been proposed, possibly opening the way to a long-sought breakthrough.

The United States and other Western powers say there is no such thing as a right to enrich - a process that can yield both electricity and nuclear bombs - but Iran views it as a matter of national sovereignty and crucial to any deal that would resolve the standoff over its nuclear intentions.

* Agencies