Kerry: ‘Big gaps’ remain in Iran nuclear talks

Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that “big gaps” remain in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, with the deadline to reach a deal two days away.

“We’re working hard, we hope we’re making careful progress, but we have big gaps. We still have some serious gaps, which we’re working to close,” Kerry said from Vienna, Austria. 

The P5+1— the U.S., France, Russia, Great Britain, Germany and China —  have been working for nearly a year to produce a deal that would curb Iran’s nuclear program.

{mosads}Kerry has been careful about not revealing any specifics about the talks.

“The good thing is the P5+1 are united and working in concert and we’re simply not going to say anything substantive about the discussions while they’re going on but a lot of serious work is going on by a lot of people,” he said Saturday.

Given the gaps that exist in the negotiations, it’s looking more unlikely officials can reach a deal by the Monday deadline. 

An extension of the talks is much more likely, which could be the second extension of the negotiations.

Officials failed to reach a final deal by the deadline they first set for themselves in July. 

Besides meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif Saturday, Kerry spoke by phone to Arab foreign ministers in the Gulf region and with his Canadian and Turkish counterparts, according to the Associated Press.

Kerry also spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone who has long been wary of a deal with Iran. 

This story was posted at 10:13 am and updated at 5:09 p.m.