Baku-APA. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are discussing new ideas aimed at breaking the deadlock in nuclear talks between Tehran and six world powers, sources close to the talks said on Friday, APA reports quoting Reuters.
The sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the top Iranian and U.S. diplomats were preparing ideas that could be shown to both countries' capitals.
"Discussions are continuing," said a senior U.S. official, who declined to discuss details about the negotiations in Vienna.
One source said it was too early to say whether this latest joint effort indicated an actual narrowing of the wide differences between Iran and the six powers.
The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China began a final round of talks with Iran on Tuesday, looking to clinch a pact under which Tehran would curb its nuclear work in exchange for a lifting of economically crippling sanctions. Iran rejects Western allegations that it has been seeking to develop a nuclear bomb capability.
Officials close to the negotiations in Vienna said at mid-week the two sides remained deadlocked on key issues, were unlikely to secure a definitive accord by Nov. 24, and might need to extend the deadline.
Separately, sources close to the talks said Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi was in Vienna, though Western officials said he was not playing an active mediation role in relation to the latest ideas under discussion by Kerry and Zarif. Oman was a key intermediary when Tehran and Washington launched secret talks on a possible nuclear deal more than a year ago.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said earlier on Friday in Vienna: "These are complex issues and there are still significant gaps between the parties. We're all going away to have technical discussions with our experts and we'll resume again over the ... weekend."
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