Iran's nuclear talks extended into Wednesday

The marathon talks on Iran's nuclear issue between the P5+1 group and Iran missed the Tuesday deadline and were extended into Wednesday.

A source close to the Chinese delegation told Xinhua that the ministerial meetings between P5+1 countries, namely the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain plus Germany and Iran restarted on Wednesday morning.

Midnight Tuesday is the deadline for negotiators to work out a framework agreement, paving the way for a comprehension agreement by June 30.

Racing against the time, all sides geared up the talks, striving to narrow gaps on remaining disagreements throughout Tuesday. The intensive ministerial plenary meetings were stretched from Tuesday night into 1 a.m. local time Wednesday.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali-Akbar Salehi and the U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also met Wednesday morning as part of efforts to reach mutual understanding in the negotiations.

Iran' s state news agency IRNA reported Wednesday that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said very good progress has been made, noting solutions were found to most of the issues.

Zarif said that he hopes they will start drafting a framework agreement on Wednesday.

Marie Harf, the spokeswomen from the U.S. State Department said on her twitter account Tuesday night that "We've made enough progress in the last days to merit staying until Wednesday."

However, she added "there are several difficult issues still remaining." Enditem

00417991745