John Kerry has said nuclear negotiations with Iran could go either way, 48 hours before a deadline for an agreement to be concluded in Vienna.
The US secretary of state was speaking to reporters on Sunday as nuclear and financial experts from Iran and six global powers held long and increasingly fraught sessions on the text of an agreement aimed at resolving a standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Foreign ministers from the UK, France, Germany and Russia are expected to arrive on Sunday night to join the talks on Monday.
Kerry emerged from the negotiations on crutches, the result of a recent cycling accident, and said he wanted to address press reports that a deal was at hand.
“I did want to just bring everybody up to speed because I think there’s a lot of speculation, and I want to make sure that it’s based on some sense of reality,” he said. “It’s now time to see whether or not we are able to close an agreement … But I want to be absolutely clear with everybody, we are not yet where we need to be on several of the most difficult issues.
“This negotiation could go either way,” Kerry said. “If hard choices get made in the next couple of days and made quickly, we could get an agreement this week. But if they are not made, we will not.”
The foreign ministers have given themselves until Tuesday night to clinch a comprehensive agreement. The Republican majority in Congress has demanded that a copy of the text should be delivered by Thursday night for review.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, had said earlier that if agreement was reached on the remaining issues, the text – an estimated 20 pages and five annexes – would be published in full and would have to be adopted by a UN security council resolution.