"The Never Ending Talks" - Deadline looming, US engages Iran in unprecedented direct talks.

"The Never Ending Talks" - Deadline looming, US engages Iran in unprecedented direct talks.(JPost).

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he had good exchange of views with his American counterpart John Kerry.

The foreign minister made the remarks on July 15 while talking to reporters on the 14th day of the 6th round of nuclear talks with P5+1 in Vienna, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

Referring to three rounds of talks with Kerry, he said serious talks are necessary at high political level.

He said Iran's attempt was to remove the stalemate which is based on illogical factors.

Zarif also noted that Tehran was trying to get to the point agreed upon in the Geneva nuclear deal.

An Iranian diplomat familiar with nuclear negotiations said on July 14 that nuclear talks between Iran and the US were intensive and comprehensive.

"It is too early to say whether we can reach an agreement by July 20 and we are still making every effort," the diplomat told IRNA on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements on the matter.

Asked whether there is any sign of narrowing the differences after face-to-face negotiations between Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry, the diplomat said, the two sides have not changed their views to a large extent, however, it is too early for conclusion.

Senior member of Iran nuclear negotiation team Abbas Araqchi said Iran will not accept any plan to partially suspend sanctions.

He made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Japan's Kyodo News in Vienna on July 14.

He said Tehran will reject any plan to partially suspend sanctions over its nuclear activities as a preliminary step before their ultimate removal, as proposed by the six major countries negotiating the sanctions regime.

"If they expect irreversible measures from Iran, they should do irreversible measures too, and sanctions should be removed all together," Araqchi underlined.

"They prefer to suspend the sanctions first and then lift them but this is the concept we don't accept," he added.

A major address delivered last week by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, called for a marked increase in Iran's enrichment capacity, after world powers made clear for months they would settle for nothing less than a significant reduction of Iran's centrifuge infrastructure.

The speech, full of technical detail, came as a "surprise" to members of the Iranian delegation, according to their US counterparts.

One Western diplomat said the delegation appeared "taken aback" by Khamenei's remarks at such a sensitive time in the nuclear negotiations— just ahead of the July 20 deadline for a deal. Two Iranian sources confirmed that assessment.

In an interim deal reached last autumn, the negotiators agreed that talks may be extended by up to six months from July 20, should they all determine that progress has been made.

Kerry will report back his assessment to US President Barack Obama, the White House says, before the US chooses how to proceed.

President Rouhani's brother Hossein Fereydoun arrived in Vienna to join the talks and send details of the negotiations back to the president, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday. It was not immediately clear if that was linked to concerns on Rouhani's part in the wake of Khamenei's speech.

While Rouhani and Zarif may sincerely want to reach a deal that would dismantle the sanctions that have devastated Iran's economy, diplomats and analysts say that Khamenei is wary of reaching a swift accord with the West, above all with the United States - the "Great Satan" and Iran's arch-enemy since 1979.

"Obviously Khamenei does not want to share his power and authority with Rouhani or anyone else," said a diplomat in Tehran. "For him an extension is an ideal situation. If he feels that his power might be challenged by a nuclear deal, Khamenei will ignore its economic benefits by rejecting it." Hmmmm....Why would Iran give in? They know they have a 'lifeline' in Turkey...Obama's BFF Erdogan.