'Painfully slow' Iran nuclear talks drag into 14th day

Rollercoaster talks towards a nuclear deal dragged into a 14th day on July 10 with still no end in sight, as Iran accused the West of back-tracking and Washington said it was prepared to walk away.

A July 10 morning deadline to present the deal to the US Congress was missed, doubling the time for American lawmakers to review the accord -- if it can be reached -- to 60 days and risking delaying key measures such as the lifting of sanctions.
 
"We're making progress, it's painfully slow ... there are still some issues that have to be resolved," said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, after meeting with other ministers.
 
But he voiced hope that over the next 12 hours experts working behind the scenes "will clear some more of the text and then we can re-group tomorrow to see if we can get over the last hurdles."  

Global powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- are struggling to end a 13-year standoff and nail down a deal to put nuclear arms out of Iran's reach in return for lifting biting international sanctions.
 
Two years of intense negotiations since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani have now come down to a crunch round of talks in Vienna.
 
"If the West gives up its excessive demands, we will certainly have a good deal in the nuclear negotiations with the P5+1," Iran's First Vice President Es-Hagh Jahanguiri told Iranian media.
 
He was speaking as tens of thousands in Tehran marked the annual "Quds Day" in support of the Palestinians, shouting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".
 
The Iranian delegation had been "defending our national positions, the government's red lines and our nuclear rights," Jahanguiri said.