VIENNA: Major-power foreign ministers and the UN atomic watchdog chief were set to launch a fresh two-pronged push Thursday to nail down an elusive nuclear deal with Iran in a sixth day of high-stakes diplomatic poker, according to the Economic Times, July 2, 2015.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano was expected to hold talks in Tehran, seeking a way around one of the thorniest issues in the long-running talks: a stalled probe into Iran’s suspected nuclear bomb development.

The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Britain and China were expected to join the main talks in Vienna, where US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran’s Zarif have been locking horns since Saturday.
EU foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini will also take part. It was unclear if Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will also return to the Austrian capital.

“We are working very, very hard and we have some very difficult issues,” Kerry said Wednesday, a day after the deadline for a deal was effectively extended to July 7.

“But we believe we’re making progress and we’re going to continue to work because of that,” he told reporters. Effectively extended their deadline to get a deal until July 7.

Tough issues include the pace and timing of sanctions relief, the mechanism for their “snapback” and Iran’s future development of faster nuclear equipment.