Global Diplomats Converge as Deadline for Iran Talks Looms

(Bloomberg) -- Diplomats seeking to end a nuclear dispute that’s defined Iran’s ties with the world for more than two decades resumed negotiations on Sunday with a self-imposed deadline looming.

Talks between the Persian Gulf nation, which holds the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves, and world powers continued for a fifth day in Lausanne, Switzerland. In a sign of progress still to be made, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry canceled engagements in Boston on Monday in order to extend his stay.

A negotiated accord -- even if only a political framework - - could be a major stepping stone to ending Iran’s isolation and rebuilding its global trade ties. Failure would not only deny President Barack Obama and others a major foreign policy success but also raise the prospect that he or a successor would turn to force to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due in Lausanne on Sunday afternoon. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will remain in the city until talks finish rather than flying to a scheduled Monday meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, a European official said.

The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, is expected to offer new proposals, according to two people involved in the talks. He convened a bilateral meeting with Kerry at about 12:30 p.m. local time. China in an earlier round of talks this month proposed ways to address lifting UN sanctions.