Iran says nuclear deal needed Sat or talks move to new round

A proposed first-stage deal on Iran’s nuclear programme needs to be reached on Saturday or talks will move on to a later round, Tehran’s lead negotiator was quoted as saying.

“The negotiations will not go on tomorrow. Either they end tonight or there is another round,” Iranian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as saying after crucial talks in Geneva stretched into a third day.

“Serious consultations have been held on the text of the final deal, (but) there are still questions that require more negotiations,” he said.

Araqchi’s comments came amid hopes that world powers and Iran will manage to seal a breakthrough in the decade-long dispute after US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian, British, French and German counterparts all rushed to Geneva to lend weight to the negotiations.