Western officials suggest Iran tries to wiggle out of nuclear pledges
Iran is backtracking from an interim nuclear agreement with world powers three months ago, Western officials suggested on June 28, as US and Iranian officials said talks on a final accord would likely run past a June 30 deadline.
Securing an historic agreement would end a more than 12-year nuclear standoff between Iran and the West and open the door to suspending sanctions that have crippled Tehran's economy. It could also help ease the diplomatic isolation for an Iran that has become increasingly assertive across the region.
Highlighting how much work remains in the nuclear negotiations, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said on arrival in Vienna that major challenges remained, including on the parameters already agreed in April in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Germany's foreign minister told reporters that Iran had promised to stick to the commitments it made in April.
Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran was committed to the Lausanne agreement.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who arrived in Vienna on June 27, left for New York on June 28 and was expected to return soon.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have met repeatedly over the last two days. Kerry also met on June 28 with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Britain in Vienna, along with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Deputy ministers from Russia and China also joined.
Zarif was also holding bilateral meetings with other members of the six-nation group.
The United States, Israel and some Western nations fear that Iran has been trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability, but Tehran says its program is for peaceful purposes only.
In November, the seven nations involved in the talks set a late March deadline for a framework agreement, which they ultimately reached on April 2, and a June 30 deadline for a comprehensive deal.