U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met together with Catherine Ashton, the head of EU foreign policy, on Wednesday October 15 in Vienna ahead of the eighth round of nuclear talks between Iran and the 5+1 that is set to convene on Thursday.
Mohammad Javad Zarif has told the media that in his view, reaching a final deal will require more time than allowed by the November 24 deadline.
After meeting with Ashton on Tuesday night, Zarif was quoted as saying that there are significant differences, adding that this is not to say that the differences cannot be resolved.
He said, however, that reaching a resolution on the issues may require more time. John Kerry, however, was quoted as saying that reaching a deal was possible.
Zarif has also said that there is general agreement about the main points of the issue: “What has been under discussions in the last few rounds has been over the details.” Those details include issues such as “the volume of uranium enrichment, and the mechanism and timeline for the lifting of sanctions.”
Last November, the parties reached an interim deal to ease sanctions in exchange for certain concessions by Iran regarding its nuclear program. The parties were to reach a final deal by July, which was then stretched to November of 2014.
