Nuke deadline looms in Vienna

Contentious nuclear talks remained snagged on Saturday, with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius calling on Iran to "seize this opportunity."

Iran, which claims its centrifuges only serve nuclear power generation, has long faced calls to cap its nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions. The West fears that Iran wants to develop nuclear bomb capabilities.

Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state, warned earlier this week that it would "preserve all options" to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

Diplomatic come and go

Fabius issued his call early Saturday while still in Vienna. So too were US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's envoy, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

On Friday, Kerry and Zarif had each made and then cancelled plans to leave Vienna for consultations with their respective governments -- moves that could have signaled possible progress.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said Zarif had had "no remarkable offers and ideas to take to Tehran" -- a reference to President Hassan Rouhani and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Zarif to meet Steinmeier

Iranian sources said Zarif would meet in Vienna on Saturday with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, fresh back from a trip to southern Africa.

Last Tuesday, Steinmeier said he was "optimistic that a conclusion is conceivable."

Britain, the US, Russia, China, France and Germany have negotiated with Iran since February to turn an interim accord reached a year ago into lasting deal by Monday, November 24.

Zarif and Kerry have both stressed that an extension of the talks had not been discussed.

'All elements on the table'

From Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister said "all the elements are already on the table." What was missing, he said, was "political will."

Leaving Vienna on Friday, British Foreign Secretary spoke of "a very significant gap between the parties.

Sources close to the Vienna talks said Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi was also in Vienna. Oman was a key intermediary when the talks were re-launched secretly a year ago.

Iran wants to ramp up the number of nuclear material enrichment centrifuges while the West wants them dramatically reduced.

Kelsey Davenport, an expert at the Arms Control Association, said there was "still a lot of time until Monday at midnight".

ipj/shs (Reuters, AFP, AP)