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 Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke after a meeting on Wednesday with U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign policy
chief Catherine Ashton that lasted some six hours in Vienna. A
senior U.S. official late on Wednesday also said some progress was
made but that much work remained.
"It was very difficult, serious and intensive ... but instead of
focusing on problems, we discussed solutions as well," Zarif said,
the sources told Reuters. "There was progress in all the fields."
Zarif said he would next meet Kerry and Ashton in three to four
weeks' time though not in Vienna, Iranian state television reported.
Ashton coordinates talks with Iran on behalf of six world powers,
including the United States.
"We still need serious discussions over various issues," Zarif said,
according to Iran's IRIB news web site.
Iran and the powers - the United States, France, Germany, China,
Russia and Britain - aim to end a decade-long standoff over Iran's
nuclear programme by a Nov. 24 target date.
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.
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.
But Zarif said none of the parties involved believed in extending
the self-imposed late November deadline for reaching a comprehensive
agreement, IRIB said. Another top Iranian negotiator last week
raised the possibility of such an extension and Russia has also
suggested more time may be needed.
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Senior officials from Iran and the six powers met in the Austrian
capital on Thursday to discuss the previous day's trilateral talks.
Western governments want Iran to cut its uranium enrichment capacity
so that it would take Tehran a long time to purify enough uranium
for an atomic weapon. Tehran has rejected demands to significantly
reduce the number of enrichment centrifuges below the 19,000 it has
now installed, of which roughly half are operating.
Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking nuclear weapons
capability, but has refused to halt uranium enrichment, and has been
hit with U.S., EU and U.N. Security Council sanctions as a result.
The senior U.S. official said gaps in negotiating positions would
have to be narrowed in a way that "ensures that all of the pathways
for fissile material for a nuclear weapon are shut down."
(Editing by Dominic Evans)
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