The State Department official spoke after about six hours of talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Vienna.
Iran and six world powers - the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain - aim to end a decade-long nuclear standoff by a Nov. 24 target date, although Tehran and Moscow have both indicated that more time may be required.
With less than six weeks to go, Western officials say important differences still remain, especially over the future scope of Iran’s production of enriched uranium, which can have civilian as well as military uses.
‘We’ve been chipping away at some of the issues. Everybody has put ideas on the table to see if we can move the ball forward,’ said the U.S. official, who declined to be named. ‘We have and continue to make some progress but there’s a substantial amount of work to be done,’ the official said.
The negotiations are centred on curbing Iran’s atomic activity, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West fears may be aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability, in exchange for lifting sanctions. ‘We hope Iran decides to take advantage of this historic opportunity,’ the senior U.S. official said.
‘We can foresee a way forward through a verifiable agreement that both resolves the international community’s concerns about ... Iran’s nuclear programme and also provides the Iranian people with more economic opportunity and an end to isolation,’ the official added.
Senior officials from the six powers and Iran are due to meet on Thursday in the Austrian capital.
There was no immediate indication that Kerry would stay on for further talks on Thursday, which would mean deviating from his plan to head back to Washington early in the morning.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said in Geneva the United States should stop focusing on the number of Iran’s uranium enrichment centrifuges, which he described as a ‘trivial matter,’ and concentrate on pushing for a deal.
Western governments want Iran to cut its centrifuge capacity to the low thousands so that it would take Tehran a long time to purify enough uranium for an atomic weapon.
Iran and six world powers - the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain - aim to end a decade-long nuclear standoff by a Nov. 24 target date, although Tehran and Moscow have both indicated that more time may be required.
With less than six weeks to go, Western officials say important differences still remain, especially over the future scope of Iran’s production of enriched uranium, which can have civilian as well as military uses.
‘We’ve been chipping away at some of the issues. Everybody has put ideas on the table to see if we can move the ball forward,’ said the U.S. official, who declined to be named. ‘We have and continue to make some progress but there’s a substantial amount of work to be done,’ the official said.
The negotiations are centred on curbing Iran’s atomic activity, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West fears may be aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability, in exchange for lifting sanctions. ‘We hope Iran decides to take advantage of this historic opportunity,’ the senior U.S. official said.
‘We can foresee a way forward through a verifiable agreement that both resolves the international community’s concerns about ... Iran’s nuclear programme and also provides the Iranian people with more economic opportunity and an end to isolation,’ the official added.
Senior officials from the six powers and Iran are due to meet on Thursday in the Austrian capital.
There was no immediate indication that Kerry would stay on for further talks on Thursday, which would mean deviating from his plan to head back to Washington early in the morning.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said in Geneva the United States should stop focusing on the number of Iran’s uranium enrichment centrifuges, which he described as a ‘trivial matter,’ and concentrate on pushing for a deal.
Western governments want Iran to cut its centrifuge capacity to the low thousands so that it would take Tehran a long time to purify enough uranium for an atomic weapon.