The European CouncilannouncedTuesday that the EU has extended the suspension of sanctions it imposed on Iran until July 10, which may indicate a new deadline in the nuclear talks.
"The Council has prolonged until 10July 2015 the suspension of EU restrictive measures agreed in the Joint Plan of Action with Iran dated 24 November 2013," Council said inan official statement.
The reasonfor the extension was shown as"to allow more time for the ongoing negotiations to reach a long term solution to the Iranian nuclear issue."
On June 30,European Council had prolonged the suspension of measures with a similar statementuntil July7, which becamethe new deadline of the nuclear talks.
However,EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, announced Tuesday that the sides will continue the talks beyond the July 7 deadline.
She did not providea new time frame forconcluding the talks, and said "We are continuing to negotiate for the next couple of days… This does not mean we are extending our deadline....We are taking the time, the days, that we still need to finalize the agreement."
The U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harftweeted on herpersonal Twitter account on Tuesday by saying "More concerned about quality of deal than about the clock; also know difficult decisions won't get any easier withtime."
"We've made substantial progress in every area.We are taking these negotiations day to day," she tweeted, informing that the U.S. State Secretary John Kerry will remain in Vienna to continue discussions withhis Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif,the P5+1 group, and Mogherini.
Zarif told Tuesday that he will stay in Vienna to continue the talks, instead ofreturning Tehran to accompany IranianPresident Rouhaniin BRICS Summit, according to Iranian news agency IRNA.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tuesday that his side is ready to stay in the Austrian capital as long as itis needed, stressing "even if the talks are extended day by day."
"No deadline is sacred for us. We are ready to remain in Vienna," he told, according to IRNA.
(Anadolu Agency)
