Nuclear Talks Between Iran, World Powers Make Little Headway; US Softens Stance

As a week of nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers made little progress, the United States has reportedly softened its stance on the issue. It pitched an idea that would allow Iran to keep half of its centrifuges while cutting its stock of uranium gas to the extent that a weapon would need more than a year to be created, France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Associated Press, Russia Today reports.

"At this time as I speak, there is no significant progress," Fabius said of the latest discussions.

With little headway in overcoming disagreements on the most difficult issues in the latest round of nuclear talks, striking a deal by the Nov. 24 deadline now seems extremely challenging.

Iran's President Hasan Rouhani said that the progress had been "extremely slow" this past week adding that the Obama administration needed be more flexible, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"The remaining time is extremely short," Rouhani further said.

Iran and the six powers - France, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and Germany - are looking to strike a deal that would put major constraints on Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for a phased lifting of international sanctions. Even though Iran denies that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, the world powers are highly suspicious.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and European Union foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton (who chairs the six major power group) continued with the negotiations later Friday.

"We do not have an understanding on all major issues, we have some understandings that are helpful to move this process forward and we have an enormous number of details still to work through...everyone has to make difficult decisions and we continue to look to Iran to make some of the ones necessary for getting to a comprehensive agreement," said a senior State Department official, Reuters reports.