AKIPRESS.COM - The US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, have resumed nuclear talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne to try to narrow the gaps before a 31 March deadline for a political agreement, reports The Guardian.

The meeting on Monday included the US energy secretary Ernest Moniz and Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who also met on Sunday to negotiate technical details on how to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

Kerry has urged Iran to make concessions that would allow six world powers to reach a political framework agreement for a nuclear deal with Tehran that would lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The parties have set a deadline of 30 June to finalise an accord.

On Sunday, the White House warned that Republicans in Congress could “potentially prevent” a deal to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, sent a letter to a senior Republican critic, urging him to shelve legislation that would clip the administration’s wings.

Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, is bringing a bill that would require Congress to vote on any deal with Iran and remove the waiver authority that allows President Barack Obama to suspend sanctions imposed by the legislature.

“The legislation would potentially prevent any deal from succeeding by suggesting that Congress must vote to ‘approve’ any deal, and by removing any existing sanctions waver authorities that have already been granted to the president,” McDonough said.

“We believe the legislation would likely have a profoundly negative impact on the ongoing negotiations – emboldening Iranian hardliners.”