The White House said Tuesday that marathon nuclear talks with Iran are likely to extend beyond a midnight deadline tonight as long as there’s hope of a deal.
“They’re going to continue these conversations, if necessary, as long as the conversations continue to be productive,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “It’s possible the talks could continue into tomorrow.”
Mr. Earnest said cutting off the talks at the deadline “doesn’t make sense, if we are getting serious engagement from the other side.”
“If we are making progress toward the finish line, then we should keep going,” he said.
Negotiators had set a deadline of Tuesday for a framework agreement between Iran and the so-called P5+1 nations — the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
And a year of negotiations, obstacles remained on uranium enrichment, the storage of stockpiles of enriched uranium, limits on Iran’s nuclear research and development, and the timing and scope of sanctions relief among other issues.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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