Nuke deal soon? ‘Could go either way,’ Kerry says

Associated Press

VIENNA

Nine days into marathon nuclear talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said the diplomatic efforts “could go either way,” cutting off all potential pathways for an Iranian atomic bomb or ending without an agreement that American officials have sometimes described as the only alternative to war.

The EU’s top foreign policy official, Federica Mogherini, said agreement was “very close.” But Kerry said there was still a ways to go.

“We are not yet where we need to be on several of the most critical issues,” Kerry told reporters outside the 19th-century Viennese palace that has hosted the negotiations.

World powers and Iran are hoping to clinch a deal by Tuesday, setting a decade of restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and granting Iran significant relief from international sanctions. Kerry met for 31/2 hours Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, as top diplomats from the five other negotiating countries planned to return to Austria’s capital in the evening.

“It is now time to see whether or not we are able to close an agreement,” Kerry said