An interim nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers will be extended through Monday, to provide negotiators in Vienna more time for talks on a comprehensive deal, a senior U.S. State Department official said Friday.
“To allow for the additional time to negotiate, we are taking the necessary technical steps for the measures of the Joint Plan of Action to remain in place through July 13,” the official said.
Later Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said progress had been made in negotiations.
“We still have a couple of very difficult issues, and we’ll be sitting down to discuss those in the very near term,” Kerry said to reporters as he met with his team in Vienna. “But I think we have resolved some of the things that were outstanding and we’ve made some progress.”
Kerry met earlier Friday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign-policy officials.
An interim nuclear agreement was reached in April and an original June 30th deadline for a final deal has already passed.
Negotiators missed a U.S. congressional deadline Friday, meaning the Republican-led U.S. Congress will now have 60 days, rather than 30, to review a deal, extra time U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration worries could derail it.
But talks have been continuing and the foreign ministers involved agreed to reconvene in Vienna Saturday.
“We are making progress, it’s painfully slow,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said before leaving Vienna Friday.
