AFP, Geneva :The United States and Iran said on Monday that they had made some progress in the latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, but warned there was still a long way to go to reach a final deal.Negotiators for Iran and six world powers have held a range of meetings in Geneva since Friday, and plan further talks in the city next week, a senior US administration official said.”These were serious, useful and constructive discussions,” the official said after US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his US counterpart wrapped up two days of meetings in the a grey and rainy Swiss city.”We have made some progress, but we still have a long way to go,” added the official, who asked not to be identified.Zarif agreed. “Some progress was made on certain subjects, but there is still a long road ahead to reach a final agreement,” Iranian media quoted him as saying after the latest round of talks.Speaking in Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the odds of reaching a deal were “50/50 at best”.”I think that is – continues to be a fair assessment of where things stand,” he said, adding any deal would hinge on the willingness of Iranian hardliners “to move forward with an agreement that would resolve the international community’s concerns with their nuclear program.”The so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany are trying to strike an accord with Iran that would prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb. The West would, in return, ease the punishing sanctions it imposed on Tehran over its nuclear programme, which Iran insists is purely civilian in nature.Tortuous negotiations over the controversy have poisoned relations between Iran and the West for years. However, there is now a heightened sense of urgency as the clock ticks down towards a March 31 deadline to agree on a political framework for the deal.”We all feel the pressure, no doubt about it, but that doesn’t mean that it will make us rush to an agreement that does not fulfil the (US) objectives,” the senior official said.The goal, the official stressed, was to “ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. That objective has to be met.”While the political aspects of the agreement must be nailed down by the end of next month, the deadline for signing the full agreement is June 30 – a cut-off point that looms all the larger after two previous deadlines were missed.
