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                   Kerry Intensifies Nuclear Talks With Iran

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is consulting over the telephone
   Saturday with his international partners and his colleagues in
   Washington as he prepares to enter another round of intense nuclear
   talks in Austria with his Iranian counterpart as an agreement deadline
   looms.

   Later Saturday, Kerry will brief German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
   Steinmeier on the progress of the talks.

   Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif decided to
   remain in Vienna overnight Friday as they try to narrow the gaps in the
   negotiations with a deadline just two days away.

   Kerry has said the United States and its P5 Plus 1 allies - Britain,
   China, France, Germany and Russia - are focused on the November 24
   deadline and are not considering an extension.

   Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow all the elements
   for a deal are already "on the table."  He said negotiators need the
   political will to reach a balanced result and avoid what he says is
   last-minute haggling over unrealistic issues.

   British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says it is Iran that needs to
   show the political will.

   A nuclear agreement would lift some sanctions against Iran in exchange
   for Iran curbing its uranium enrichment program.

   The United States has long accused Iran of seeking to build a nuclear
   weapon - a charge Iran denies. It insists its nuclear program is for
   peaceful civilian purposes.

   VOA State Department correspondent Scott Stearns says U.S. diplomatic
   activity indicates the Obama administration is preparing its Middle
   East allies  - chiefly Turkey and Saudi Arabia - for the possibility of
   a deal.

   U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is in Turkey for talks, while Kerry met
   Thursday with the foreign ministers of France and Saudi Arabia to
   discuss the negotiations on Iran's atomic program. U.S. President
   Barack Obama met with the Saudi National Guard minister in Washington
   earlier this past week.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-intensifies-nuclear-talks-with-
   iran/2530445.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-intensifies-nuclear-talks-with-iran/2530445.html