Iran nuclear deal `never closer`

Risingbd Desk: Iran`s foreign minister has used a YouTube posting to say a comprehensive agreement over its nuclear programme has never been closer.

Javad Zarif said that the agreement would open new ways to address common challenges such as extremism in the Middle East.

US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed that they were "making progress" but said lots of work was still to be done.

Negotiators are racing to meet a deadline for an agreement on 7 July.

Mr Zarif called for an end to "coercion and pressure" at the nuclear talks, in the video message on Friday.

He said that Iran was ready to strike a deal and that negotiators had "never been closer to a lasting outcome".

Mr Zarif said there was also the promise of greater cooperation to tackle extremist violence.

"The menace we`re facing, and I say we, because no-one is spared, is embodied by the hooded men who are ravaging the cradle of civilisation. To deal with this new challenge, new approaches are badly needed," he said.

But the BBC`s Barbara Plett Usher in Vienna says that the question of whether a deal will actually be achieved still hovers over the talks.

Agencies

risingbd/July 04, 2015/Aminul