Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that all sides in the nuclear talks specifically Iran and the U.S. should make the final decisions as quickly as possible.

“The comprehensive agreement is within reach,” Wang told reporters as he entered the discussions. “What’s important is that today and tomorrow all parties -- especially the United States and Iran -- should make the final decisions as quickly as possible,” Bloomberg quoted Wang as saying.

Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) did not meet the June 30 deadline and extended the talks to July 7.

Wang and top diplomats from France, Germany, Russia and the UK joined the negotiations in Vienna on their 10th day. Diplomats who have given themselves until July 7 to strike a deal may need an additional day or two to draft it, Iranian officials told Fars news agency.

While progress continues to be made, “we are not yet where we need to be on several of the most difficult issues,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on Sunday at Vienna’s Palais Coburg, where he met for much of the day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

According to the BBC, Kerry said “hard choices” are needed if a deal is to be made by Tuesday’s deadline.

His Iranian counterpart said, “Still nothing is clear”.

Zarif said that “some differences remain and we are trying and working hard”.

---------Mogherini calls the talks ‘constructive, positive’--------

EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini agreed that the atmosphere at the talks was “constructive, positive”.

“We are very close,” she said.


On Friday, Zarif said that Iran was ready to strike a deal and negotiators had “never been closer to a lasting outcome”.

But in a video message he also called for an end to “coercion and pressure” at the nuclear talks.