With just two weeks to go to a deadline for reaching agreement on a nuclear deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif have resumed negotiations in Switzerland.

With the clock ticking, there is still some way to go in ironing out a framework accord according to Britain’s Foreign Minister Philip Hammond , although he said “we are closer than we were”.

“There are areas where we’ve made progress, areas where we have yet to make any progress,” Hammond said.

Hammond, along with German, French and European Union colleagues, will also meet Zarif, later today, in Brussels.

But for now all eyes are on the Swiss resort of Lausanne where talks on curbing Iran’s nuclear
programme in exchange for sanctions relief are taking place amid tight security.