Iran-P5+1 deal not out of reach: Kerry

The United States says it is possible for the Sextet of world powers and Iran to arrive at a final nuclear agreement by the November 24 deadline.

"I don't believe it's out of reach," US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Paris on Tuesday, a day before he was due to join Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton for a trilateral meeting in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Kerry, however, said “but we have some tough issues to resolve.”

"We need to continue to have some serious discussions, which we will, and we'll see where we are. And I just think I'll let the negotiation process speak for itself at this point in time. I don't think anything is served by a lot of speculation at this point in time," the top US diplomat said.

Zarif is in Vienna for a fresh round of talks with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Russia, China, France, Britain, and the US – plus Germany (P5+1).

Prior to the trilateral meeting, the Iranian foreign minister is scheduled to sit down with Ashton, who leads the negotiating team from the P5+1 countries, at a dinner banquet later on Tuesday to discuss the progress of the nuclear talks and the agenda for the negotiations.

Zarif has said the new round of talks can further pave the way for a final deal to be reached on Tehran’s nuclear energy program, vowing all-out efforts to resolve existing problems.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has also said if the P5+1 group shows real determination, a final nuclear agreement between Tehran and the six powers is possible before the deadline.

Last November, the two sides clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. However, they agreed to extend their talks until November 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.