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As Iran deal deadline looms, diplomats worried gaps remain

A diplomat from the six world powers negotiating with Iran said wide gaps remain on many substantive issues one month before the deal deadline.
(L to R)  EU Deputy Secretary General Helga Schmid, Vice President of the European Commission Catherine Margaret Ashton, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iranian ambassador to Austria Hassan Tajik attend the so called EU 5+1 Talks with Iran at the UN headquarters in Vienna, on June 17, 2014. The United States and Iran briefly discussed the crisis in Iraq on the sidelines of a critical fifth round of nuclear talks in Vienna, US officials said on June 16, 2014. AFP PHOTO / DIETER NAGL

VIENNA — A month before an interim nuclear deal expires, a diplomat from the six world powers gave a sobering assessment of the Iran final deal talks, noting that while there is progress on drafting “bits of the text” for a final deal, almost no major area of dispute between Iran and the P5+1 has been effectively settled yet. It’s possible that wide gaps on issues like the size of Iran’s enrichment program could close at the end, he said, but it’s not clear that they will.

“Progress has been made,” the P5+1 diplomat at the talks, speaking not for attribution, said here Thursday (June 19). “But we have not concluded a big element of the negotiations.”

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