One foot out the door? Iran talks enter double overtime, White House repeats ‘walk away’ threat

Negotiators from the U.S. and five other world powers resumed talks with Iran over the future of its nuclear program in Switzerland Thursday after an all-night session.

 

Wednesday’s discussion broke up shortly before 6 a.m. Thursday local time (midnight Eastern Time), according to a tweet from State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, and resumed over four-and-a-half hours later.

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has already postponed his planned departure twice from an original March 31 deadline, even as other foreign ministers have begun to sit negotiations out. His Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, made another optimistic statement to reporters Thursday, saying that both sides had made “significant progress” before adding that there is not yet a “final result.”

 

Asked if reaching agreement on the framework of a permanent deal would be possible Thursday, Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said “the sunrise is just ahead.”

 

On Wednesday Harf said that Kerry would “remain in Lausanne until at least Thursday morning to continue the negotiations”, adding “we continue to make progress, but have not reached a political understanding.”

 

Read More: One foot out the door? Iran talks enter double overtime, White House repeats ‘walk away’ threat | Fox News