US Secretary of State John Kerry says more time is needed to reach a comprehensive agreement with Iran over its nuclear program.
“Diplomacy takes time, and persistence is needed to determine whether we can achieve our objectives peacefully,” Kerry said in a statement.
The statement came after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced at a joint press conference that the talks will extend through November 24.
“To turn our back prematurely on diplomatic efforts when significant progress has been made would deny ourselves the ability to achieve our objectives peacefully, and to maintain the international unity that we have built,” Kerry said.
“While we’ve made clear that no deal is better than a bad deal, the very real prospect of reaching a good agreement that achieves our objectives necessitates that we seek more time.”
“As a result, we have decided – along with the EU, our P5+1 partners, and Iran – to extend the Joint Plan of Action until November 24, exactly one year since we finalized the first step agreement in Geneva. This will give us a short amount of additional time to continue working to conclude a comprehensive agreement, which we believe is warranted by the progress we’ve made and the path forward we can envision,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ashton and Zarif said the talks will resume in the coming weeks in hopes of reaching a comprehensive deal “at the earliest possible moment.”
“While we have made tangible progress on some of the issues and have worked together on a text for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, there are still significant gaps on some core issues which will require more time and effort,” they said.
