France's foreign minister appeared to put pressure on the United States and Iran to speed up nuclear talks, saying that all issues were now on the table between six major powers and Iran and that the time had to come to make a decision.
The two sides nevertheless struggled to break the deadlock in nuclear talks that has held up a historic deal that would bring sanctions relief for Tehran in exchange for curbs on its atomic programme.
Tehran and the six powers have given themselves until Monday to reach a nuclear agreement, their third extension in two weeks, as the Iranian delegation accused the West of throwing upnew stumbling blocks to a deal.
"Now that everything is on the table, the moment has come to decide," Laurent Fabius said in a statement sent to Reuters.
The statement came after Fabius had conversations with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
Among the biggest sticking points at the moment is Iran's insistence that a United Nations Security Council arms embargo and ban on its ballistic missile programme dating from 2006 be lifted immediately if an agreement is reached.
Russia, which sells weapons to Iran, has been publicly supporting Tehran on this issue.
However, a senior Western diplomat said earlier in the week the six powers - the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China - remained united over the issue, despite Moscow's and Beijing's well-known dislike of the embargos.
Western powers have long suspected Iran of aiming to build nuclear bombs and using its civilian atomic energy programme to cloak its intention - an accusation Iran strongly denies.
Other problematic issues in the talks are access for inspectors to military sites in Iran, answers from Tehran over past activity and the overall speed of sanctions relief.
"Still have difficult issues to resolve," Kerry tweeted today after meeting Zarif.
The two men have met nearly every day since Kerry arrived in Vienna more than two weeks ago for what was intended to be the final phase in a negotiation process lasting more than year and a half aimed at securing a long-term deal with Iran.
Kerry told reporters late on Friday the atmosphere in the talks was constructive.
"A couple of differences have been decided ... It's safe to say we have made progress," he said, without giving any details.
Met with @FedericaMog and @JZarif this AM. Still have difficult issues to resolve. #IranTalksVienna
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) July 11, 2015
