BRUSSELS: The European Union announced Friday afternoon that deadline for the ongoing Iran nuclear talks in Vienna will be extended to July 13.
To allow for the additional time to negotiate, we are taking the necessary technical steps for the measures of the Joint Point of Action to remain in place through July 13,” a senior U.S. State Department official said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Vienna before meeting with the U.S. negotiating team that some contentious issues have been solved over the past 24 hours.
I think we have resolved some of the things that were outstanding and we’ve made some progress,” he said.
The atmosphere is very constructive … We still have a couple of very difficult issues, and we’ll be sitting down to discuss those in the very near term – this evening and into tomorrow.”
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said upon his departure from Vienna on Friday afternoon that there has been progress in the talks, albeit very slow. Hammond is to return to Vienna on Saturday.