The United States and Iran warned on Monday that there was still a long way to go to reach a final deal despite some progress during the latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Negotiators for Iran and six world powers have held a range of meetings in Geneva since Friday, and plan further talks in the city next week, a senior US administration official said.
“We have made some progress, but we still have a long way to go,” said one official after US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met in the Swiss city.
Zarif agreed. “Some progress was made on certain subjects, but there is still a long road ahead to reach a final agreement,” Iranian media quoted him as saying after the latest round of talks.
Speaking in Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the odds of reaching a deal were “50/50 at best”.
“I think that continues to be a fair assessment of where things stand,” he said, adding any deal would hinge on the willingness of Iranian hardliners “to move forward with an agreement that would resolve the international community’s concerns with their nuclear program.”
The so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany are trying to strike an accord with Iran that would prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb. The West would, in return, ease the punishing sanctions it imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.
The goal, the official stressed, was to “ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. That objective has to be met,” a senior official said.
