ANKARA
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said more work is needed to wrap up the ongoing nuclear talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna, Iranian media quoted him as saying on Sunday.
In comments made to the press, Zarif said that while more work is needed to close a deal, there would not be any further extensions to the nuclear talks beyond Monday, the Iranian Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
There have been speculations in world media that a final comprehensive deal is imminent, with some predicating that a breakthrough maybe acheived as soon as Sunday night.
However, officials of Iran and the world powers group P5+1 countries have still not yet given a definitive timeframe about when exactly the talks would conclude.
According to IRNA, unnamed sources in the German delegation said that a final nuclear deal was within reach, but it was "not quite finalized yet," adding: "all outstanding questions are resolvable".
It quoted another unnamed source within the Iranian delegation as saying that a final agreement Sunday night was "logistically impossible, since the final text has 100 pages," IRNA reported.
Zarif and the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are expected to hold a meeting on Sunday night to review the work of their deputies.
Kerry said earlier he remained hopeful about the result of the talks, adding that he believed negotiations were coming closer to an end.
"We had a very good meeting. Positive. I think we’re getting to some real decisions…we have a few tough things to do," Kerry was quoted as saying by IRNA on Sunday.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday that he hoped "this is the last phase of the marathon talks".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is reported to have arrived in Vienna, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to join the talks on Sunday.
