![\"royce\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/03\/royce.jpg\" "\\"Foreign")
\nA senior European negotiator who blamed the Iranian regime for failing to compromise in nuclear talks said on Thursday that 5+1 countries are unlikely to reach a framework agreement with Tehran on its nuclear program in the coming days as the sides are still far apart on key issues.<\/p>\n
The negotiator told reporters on condition of anonymity: “Contrary to what the Iranians are saying with regard to 90 percent of an accord being done, that’s not true\u201d, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
“We are not close to an agreement,” the negotiator said.<\/p>\n
A senior U.S. State Department official on Thursday denied reports there was a draft nuclear deal in circulation among six world powers and Iran.<\/p>\n
Several Western officials had privately spoken of a document with brackets highlighting areas of disagreement.<\/p>\n
The current round of talks in Switzerland may need to continue beyond Friday, the official said.<\/p>\n
“We are pretty far away. There are a lot of issues that still need to be resolved. The Iranians must make substantial concessions,” he said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the sides were working on difficult issues.<\/p>\n
“We’re pushing some tough issues but we made progress,” Kerry told reporters, adding that it was unclear when the U.S. delegation would return to Washington.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Washington, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee pressed the Obama administration Thursday to give Congress a greater role in approving any nuclear deal with Iran.<\/p>\n
“I think the American people, through their elected representatives, should be weighing in on this deal,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told a top U.S. State Department official. “I know we disagree on that point.”<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said more than 360 members of Congress have sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama detailing their concerns about negotiations with the Iranian regime.
“With a deep history of deception, covert procurement, and clandestine facilities, Iran is not ‘any other’ country, to be conceded an industrial scale nuclear program,” Royce said.<\/p>\n
“Any meaningful agreement must keep restrictions in place for decades, as over 360 members of Congress \u2014 including every member of this committee \u2014 are demanding in a letter to the president.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A senior European negotiator who blamed the Iranian regime for failing to compromise in nuclear talks said on Thursday that 5+1 countries are unlikely to reach a framework agreement with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-18094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nuclear","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n