Iran nuclear deadline set for extension

Foreign ministers of France, China, United States, Russia, United Kingdom and Germany (P5+1) were still busy sorting out crucial issues in nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart in Vienna on Tuesday.

The diplomats met twice with Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Monday, but there were doubts as to whether the global powers were close to reaching a deal.

Washington also expressed the possibility that the July 7 deadline could be extended. "I would say that it's certainly possible," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. Negotiators had earlier set June 30 as the date to finalize a deal to curb Teheran's nuclear program.

However, Tuesday was not to be perceived as a deadline, US State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington. "It was an extension of basically seven days of the parameters" of an April 2 framework accord struck in Lausanne, he added. As far as Tuesday was concerned, "Everybody is still, I think, rowing on the oars here to try to get a deal done, but it's got to be the right deal," Kirby argued.

Talks at the moment have been stalling around ways to ease economic sanctions on Iran. The country's representatives also wanted to ensure there was no renewal of a UN "arms embargo" in the new accord, an official from Teheran told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

An official from Iran also said it wasn't about the dates as long as a deal was reached, the AFP reported.

The P5+1 group, which includes the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, have been accusing Tehran of building nuclear arms since over a decade.

The Middle Eastern country has finally relented to an international probe into the allegations and allowed Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to travel to Iran.

mg/jil (AFP, Reuters)