US Secretary of State John Kerry held meetings on Sunday in Vienna to push for tough concessions from Iran on a nuclear deal that would end a decade-long diplomatic stand-off between Tehran and six world powers.
“Obviously we have some very significant gaps still, so we need to see if we can make some progress,” Mr. Kerry said before meeting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the chief negotiator of the sextet comprising Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany.
Mr. Kerry’s counterparts — William Hague from Britain, Laurent Fabius from France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier from Germany — also were scheduled to join the talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
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Senior diplomats from Iran and the sextet have been working to clinch a deal by July 20 that would significantly cut back Tehran’s nuclear activities for a number of years, in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Talks are stuck on several key issues, such as how much uranium Iran will be allowed to enrich under the deal.