Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said today there were divisions among the world powers attempting to negotiate a landmark deal with Tehran over its nuclear programme.
"We have reached an agreement on some questions, but on others there are still disagreements.... There are differences of opinion within the P5+1 group" of world powers, he was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency ISNA, amid crucial talks in Geneva.
"Progress so far has not been too bad... But it is possible that we won't manage to finish tonight," he said.
He stressed that a deal was in the drafting stage but there were still concerns being raised. He gave no details of what was in the putative accord.
"It is unlikely that the negotiations will continue tomorrow. They must finish tonight," Zarif added. Iranian officials previously said the talks could move on to another round if they didn't finish today.
Zarif's comments followed initial optimism after US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian, British, French and German counterparts all rushed to Geneva to lend weight to the negotiations aimed at ending the decade-long dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.
But on the unscheduled third day of talks today, cracks seemed to emerge among the group of world powers after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius raised concerns and said Paris had not accepted an initial draft of the deal.
