Iran nuke talks enter into final stage

Vienna 

Marathon Iran nuclear talks entered the final stretch today with foreign ministers seeking to overcome the last few hurdles blocking a historic accord, even as an Iranian official warned they could fail to meet another deadline.

On the 10th day of talks in Vienna, both sides warned success in their quest to nail down an agreement ending a 13-year-old standoff over Iran's nuclear programme was far from guaranteed.

After failing to make a June 30 deadline, global powers have given themselves until Tuesday to try to reach an accord putting a nuclear bomb out of Iran's reach.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry, in the Austrian capital since June 27 facing off against his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, warned the talks still "could go either way".

The point was rammed home by France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as they returned to Vienna late Sunday.

"The main question is to know whether the Iranians will accept making clear commitments on what until now has not been clarified," Fabius said, adding that "all the cards" were "now on the table".

On Monday, an Iranian official insisted his country had made "a number of concessions" but that a number of issues -- few in number but "tough" -- remained to be thrashed out at ministerial level.