US Secretary of State John Kerry and six other foreign ministers will try and make it second time lucky on Saturday as they seek to nail down a landmark nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva.
It will be the second time in two weeks that Kerry and other top diplomats hunker down in a smart Geneva hotel after intensive talks failed there shortly after midnight on November 10.
Kerry decided to go back for another try "in light of the progress being made" and "with the hope that an agreement will be reached", State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said Friday.
He will be joined again in Switzerland by French, British and German peers Laurent Fabius, William Hague and Guido Westerwelle plus Moscow's envoy Sergei Lavrov who arrived on Friday.
China's Wang Yi had missed the last high-drama gathering but will be present in Geneva on Saturday.
Iran President Hassan Rouhani's election in June has created big hopes that the standoff over Iran's nuclear work can be resolved after a decade of failed diplomatic initiatives and rising tensions.
The risks posed by failure are high: further nuclear expansion by Iran, more painful sanctions and the possibility of Israeli and even US military action.
Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful but many in the international community suspect it is aimed the Islamic republic getting nuclear weapons.
The powers want Iran to stop spinning, for six months initially, some of its many thousand centrifuges enriching uranium to levels close to weapons-grade.
They also want Tehran to stop construction work at Arak and to grant the International Atomic Energy Agency more intrusive inspection rights.
In return they are offering Iran minor and reversible relief from painful sanctions including unlocking several billion dollars in oil revenues and easing some trade restrictions.
This "first phase" deal would build trust and ease tensions while negotiators push on for a final accord that ends once and for all fears that Tehran will get an atomic bomb.
A major sticking point however has been Iran's demand -- as expressed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this week -- for recognition of its "right" to enrich uranium.
Friday's third day of talks in Geneva saw a narrowing of differences as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jarad Zarif met with P5+1 chief negotiator and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
The US-educated Zarif, who in mid-October made a Powerpoint presentation to the powers that aimed to end the deadlock within a year, said Friday that there was "room for optimism".
"To a good degree, we have moved (closer) towards agreement," deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told Iranian media late Friday, adding however that "some main issues still remain."
Mark Hibbs, analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the fact that Kerry was coming to Geneva again showed a deal was near.
"If it isn't very close, I can't believe that Kerry would expend the political capital to cross the pond for this, especially with Congress breathing down his neck," Hibbs told AFP.
Both sides say they want a deal but getting an accord palatable to hardliners both in the United States and in the Islamic republic -- as well as Israel -- is tough.
Many in Israel, widely assumed to have a formidable nuclear arsenal itself, are alarmed about the mooted deal, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu campaigning vigorously against it.
Netanyahu wants all of Iran's nuclear infrastructure dismantled, not parts of it frozen, believing that the P5+1 will leave Iran with an ability to develop nuclear weapons.
In the United States meanwhile there is a push by lawmakers to ignore President Barack Obama's pleas and pass yet more sanctions on Iran if there is no deal -- or one seen as too soft.
Rouhani meanwhile is under pressure to show Khamenei the first fruits of his "charm offensive", and it is unclear whether the sanctions relief on offer is enough.
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