Iran Nuclear Talks: Deadline May be Extended

Iran and the six world powers are likely to extend the nuclear talks if they fail to reach an agreement before the deadline - 23:00 GMT, November 24, 2014.

A senior U.S. state department official said: "It is only natural that just over 24 hours from the deadline we are discussing a range of options... an extension is one of those options."

Earlier, sources had stated that major differences continued to exist. The world powers - the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France and Germany - wanted Iran to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting of U.N. sanctions.

Even though Tehran denies that it is seeking nuclear weapons and is only looking for atomic energy, the world powers suspect that it might be secretly seeking enough energy to build a weapon.

While the international representatives are trying hard to reach a deal in Vienna, Austria, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, "At the moment, we are focused on the last push... to try and get this across the line. Of course, if we're not able to do that, we will then look at where we're going from there," BBC reports.

Negotiations have been going on for months and the deadline has been extended earlier too. The result of the talks will undoubtedly decide Iran's relations with the West.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in an interview with ABC, Sunday morning did not outightly reject the idea of reaching a deal before the deadline. He said:  "I think that what we're going to do is take a look at what emerges over the course of the weekend," CNN reports.  

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told the media Saturday that "big gaps" persisted.

It is worth mentioning that absence of a bill can elevate international tensions and can also lead to punitive measures and confrontation with regard to Iran's nuclear programme and aspirations.