[caption id="attachment_131284" align="alignright" width="178"] Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, former EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pose for photographers at nuclear talks in Vienna on Thursday. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES[/caption]
VIENNATry though they might to deny it, there are growing expectations that international negotiators in nuclear talks with Iran will need a second extension, beyond their Monday deadline.
U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerryinsisted Thursdaythat the six-power group negotiating with Iran is not discussing an extension.
We are negotiating to try and get an agreement. Its that simple, he told reporters in Paris before he left for Vienna to join the nuclear talks.
But after U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond became the first senior Western official to confirm an extension was possible on Wednesday evening, diplomatic chatter has grown more substantive about how tough it would be to close remaining gaps.