John Kerry: “Iran nuclear negotiations could go either way”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says nuclear negotiations with Iran are still far from an agreement by the deadline of July 7. “We are not yet where we need to be on several of the most difficult issues,” Kerry said in a Sunday press conference on the ninth day of the talks in Vienna, Austria. “At this point, this negotiation could go either way,” he said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif seems to be more positive: he confirmed that some differences remain, but “we are trying and working hard”.

The final phase of the negotiations among Iran and the P5+1 (United STates, Russia, China, United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union) regarding  Iran’s nuclear program is to be achieved based on the 24 November 2013 Geneva agreement, officially titled the Joint Plan of Action (JPA). The Geneva agreement was an interim deal,in which Iran agreed to decrease parts of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some sanctions and which went into effect on 20 January 2014. The parties agreed to extend their talks with a first extension deadline on 24 November 2014, a second extension deadline set to 1 July 2015, then a tird one on 7 July. In order to ease the negotiations, the European Union has decided to freeze sanctions against Iran.

EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini affirmed that the atmosphere at the talks was “constructive, positive”. “We are very close”, she said.