The Iranian and European Union flags stands in front of a poster of the Iran talks at the International Center in Vienna, where closed-door nuclear talks have been taking place this week. Associated Press
VIENNA—With one month to go until a July 20 deadline, the odds of a high-stakes nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers appeared finely balanced, with senior diplomats saying this week's talks had shown "progress" but warning that gaps may prove too wide to resolve.
After five days of discussions in Vienna, top Iranian and U.S. officials demanded major concessions from the other side and there was no pretense of any sudden breakthrough.
However, the negotiating teams departed Friday with a working document in hand—the first concrete advance in months. Diplomats said all sides appear committed to reach an accord and they left with plans to return July 2 for a mammoth negotiation session that could run through July 20.
The climax to the decade-old Iran talks comes at a time of flux in the long frozen relationship between Tehran and Washington. The Obama administration has suffered multiple foreign policy setbacks in recent months, and Iran has been shaken by the offensive by extremist Sunni groups in its neighbor, Iraq. On Monday, senior U.S. and Iranian officials discussed the Iraq crisis in Vienna.
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Wang Qun, China's envoy to the new round of Iranian nuclear talks, is seen talking to journalists in Vienna earlier this week.
It's not yet clear whether that development could help pave the way for a nuclear deal, which could be a rare foreign policy win for the U.S. administration and reward Iranian President Hasan Rouhani for the diplomatic outreach he instigated when he took office last summer.
Iran and the six powers—the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia, Germany and France—are seeking an accord that would settle international concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions in return for lifting tight energy and financial sanctions on Tehran.
"We are at a very crucial moment in these negotiations. Our conversations this week have been very tough but constructive," said Wendy Sherman, the U.S. envoy at the talks and No. 3 diplomat in the State Department. "We …had very intensive sessions focused on the very hard work of drafting text."
Ms. Sherman said the two sides head home with a "heavily bracketed" working document that can form the basis of the next round of talks.
Speaking to reporters Friday, China's envoy to the talks, Wang Qun, said the drafting of a common framework text showed "progress registered." He said the last few days demonstrated that "all parties wish to see an agreement."
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told reporters Friday a deal could only emerge if the six-power group—and especially the U.S.—backed away from "excessive demands," according to a live translation carried by Iran's Press TV.
"I advised them to think more seriously and to be realistic and to look for a solution," Mr. Zarif said in English at the end of the briefing.
Ms. Sherman said Washington harbors similar doubts about whether Tehran can make the hard calls needed to reach a deal.
"What is still unclear is whether Iran is really ready and willing to take all of the steps necessary to assure the world that its nuclear program is and will remain exclusively peaceful," she said.
The key divides that have dominated talks appear largely unresolved.
The two sides remain far apart on Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity after a deal, in particular how many centrifuges—a key part of its nuclear infrastructure—Iran will be able to keep. The six-power group remain concerned about Iran's plans for the Arak nuclear reactor, which could eventually produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon.
Another open question is how extensive the supervision of Iran's nuclear-related facilities will be, and Tehran must still answer many tough questions about its past nuclear work. Iran is pressing for rapid sanctions relief and has said it cannot accept an agreement imposing special limits on its nuclear activities for many years.
"Of course this is a negotiation but there isn't a massive amount of flexibility on our side," a diplomat from the six-power group said Thursday, citing the need for assurances that Tehran can't "break out" and quickly develop nuclear weapons.
Still, there is evidence that gaps may be starting to narrow. Diplomats say the two sides have moved closer on the future of the Arak reactor. On Tuesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister aacAbbas Araghchi told local media that Tehran now accepted the idea that western sanctions on Iran would be phased out over time.
A senior U.S. official said Friday Iran had started to show "a bit more realism" in Vienna this week.
Still, observers of the talks said a deal remained difficult, meaning a risky six-month extension in talks between Iran and the six power group, the P5+1, could be needed.
"I think we are still at a stage where P5+1's maximum—in terms of both what it considers a tolerable residual Iranian nuclear capability and the sanctions relief it is willing to provide—is falling short of Iran's minimum," said Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, a conflict-prevention group. "Time…is of the essence, lest political developments derail the process, spoilers disrupt it and politicians who are deeply invested in it lose momentum."
Western and Iranian officials said they remain fully focused on next month's deadline and that no work has been done on a possible extension in talks.
Virtually everyone involved in the talks said it was never likely that differences would be solved on the major issues weeks in advance.
Russia's top negotiator at the talks, Sergei Ryabkov, said earlier this week that while the differences between Iran and the U.S. on centrifuge numbers remain a "big problem," this issue was always likely to be settled "at a very late stage."


1b) Representatives from the P5+1 global powers and Iran emerged from nuclear talks Friday without having made any major breakthroughs, and with Iranian negotiators reportedly rejecting“excessive demands” from the West. It remains unclear if the parties will reach a final deal by the interim Joint Plan of Action’s (JPA) July 20 deadline - and in fact conventional wisdom is hardening to the effect that they will not - but the Wall Street Journal noted that all parties left the talks with a working document that the outlet described as "the first concrete advance in months." There has been robust public debate regarding the nature and extent of what are widely described as large gaps between Tehran and the international community. Public attention, aided by leaks from all sides, has in recent weeks focused on the number of the number and sophistication of centrifuges the Islamic republic will be allowed to maintain. Tehran currently has 19,000 centrifuges, and in February a former top nuclear negotiator from the country boasted that Iran "will never" dismantle portions of its nuclear infrastructure. Disputes over Iranian intransigence regarding what are referred to as the possible military dimensions (PMDs) of its atomic program have been more muted but are considered substantively just as significant. Iran is obligated by United Nations Security Council resolution 1929 to come clean over the degree to which the country's military is entangled in its atomic program, a requirement that is considered crucial if international inspectors are to establish the baselines for a robust verification regime. Iran has made moves indicating that it is seeking to skirt those obligations even in the context of comprehensive negotiations. Talks are set to resume in early July, less than three weeks before the July 20 deadline
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