Efforts to reach a political agreement on Iran's nuclear programme by the end of the month intensified today as negotiations between the United States and Iran resumed, and Western officials warned that tough issues remained unresolved.
The US and Iranian delegations led by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif began another round of talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne after the Iranians returned overnight from Brussels where they had met European foreign ministers.
Senior European officials were expected in Lausanne later today, with foreign ministers possibly joining them at the end of the week if talks advance.
"We'll see what happens the rest of the week but for now we're not there," a senior Western diplomat said. "The Americans had the same feeling in Lausanne."
"We are trying to get there but quite frankly we still do not know if we will be able to," the official told reporters on Monday.
The US official said the sides would work through the end of the month if needed to secure a deal.
Sticking Points
Zarif said all sides needed to keep talking this week to see what could be achieved.
The six world powers are trying to reach a political framework agreement with Iran by the end of the month that would curb Tehran's most sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years in exchange for the gradual easing of some sanctions.
The parties have set a June 30 deadline to finalise all the technical details of an accord. Western officials say privately that overcoming disagreements on some of the remaining sticking points would be very difficult.
Sticking points include the level of Iran's enrichment activities and how sanctions would be lifted.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said "unjust" Western sanctions should be lifted, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.
He said Iran was ready to increase oil exports by up to 1 million bpd when sanctions are lifted and this would not have an impact on crude oil prices.
US and EU sanctions that came into force in 2012 prohibit the import, purchase and transport of Iranian petroleum products, crippling the major oil exporter's economy.
A senior Iranian official doubted whether a deal would be reached this week as there were gaps on some important issues, although the atmosphere at the talks was good.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters in Brussels the talks had been helpful.
A European diplomatic source, however, said substantial gaps remained and it was not clear they could be resolved in the coming days. "The talks were lengthy and in-depth, but they did not enable us to narrow our differences," the source said after Zarif met his French, German and British counterparts.
The West suspects Tehran of wanting to create an atomic weapons capability. Tehran denies that and says its research is for purely peaceful purposes.
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