VIENNA, Nov 22 (AFP): Iran and world powers appeared set Saturday for a fresh round of cliffhanger nuclear talks in a bid to break the deadlock two days ahead of a deadline.
In a sign of the high stakes involved, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif stayed overnight Friday in the Austrian capital Vienna to try to narrow what Washington has said are "serious gaps" in the cliffhanger negotiations.
Iranian sources said the two ministers will hold later Saturday a fourth round of talks in three days here. Zarif would then meet with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was due to arrive in Vienna.
There was no immediate confirmation of the Kerry-Zarif meeting from the US State Department, however.
"We are running against the clock. Obviously, the deadline is Monday, and our folks there are working furiously to meet it... Serious gaps do remain," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in Washington.
The gaps were so wide that Britain and Iran have raised the possibility that a final deal would not be reached by Monday's deadline, and a new set of negotiations would be launched.
Zarif had mulled returning Friday to Tehran for consultations but he was quoted as saying by his delegation later that there were no "significant" new proposals to make it worth the trip back home.
Britain, the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany have been locked in talks with Iran since February to turn an interim accord reached a year ago into a lasting agreement by November 24.
Deadlocked Iran nuclear talks enter cliffhanger on final weekend
FE Team | Published: November 23, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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