U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif before a meeting in Geneva January 14, 2015.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met in Paris on Friday to discuss negotiations for a nuclear deal, a U.S. official said.

The pair, who held a marathon six-hour round of talks in Geneva earlier this week in a bid to nail down a deal, were taking the opportunity to meet again with both in the French capital on separate diplomatic trips.

Their talks began around 2:40pm (1340 GMT), a U.S. official said.

Zarif is also due to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius while in Paris.

The new Zarif-Kerry talks came as their negotiators were also meeting in Geneva.

Global powers leading the talks, known as the P5+1 are due to open negotiations on Sunday in the Swiss city as a deadline looms for a comprehensive deal which would rein in Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from a tight network of sanctions.

Both sides have remained tight-lipped about whether any progress is being made.

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