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Kerry in Egypt for talks on IS fight, Palestinians

With uncertainty still surrounding the deal, the State Department has not said how long Kerry will stay in Lausanne, nor when he is expected to return to Washington.

Zarif is also due to meet with EU partners Britain, France and Germany in Brussels on Monday.

“There’s no deal yet,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki insisted on CNN Thursday.

“The primary objective of any deal is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” she added.

But the negotiations fuelled political tensions in Washington earlier this week when 47 Republican senators wrote to Iran warning that Congress could modify any deal struck with President Barack Obama’s administration.

Kerry hit out at that suggestion, saying it was “flat wrong,” and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a visit to Washington also denounced the political stunt, which he feared could undermine the talks.

“This is not just an issue of American domestic politics, but it affects the negotiations we are holding in Geneva,” Steinmeier said before meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“Obviously, mistrust is growing on… the Iranian side (as to whether) we are really serious with the negotiations.”

Amid the fallout from the open letter, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warned the country’s top clerical body Thursday against “deceitful” world powers.

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President Hassan Rouhani “has selected a nuclear (negotiating) team who are truly good, trustworthy and hardworking,” he said, quoted by ISNA news agency, whereas “the other party is deceitful and stabs in the back.”

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