Time running out to reach Iran nuclear deal, warn experts

Letter signed by former diplomats says Iran close to developing nuclear weapons capability

Leading former diplomats including seven ex-UK foreign and defence ministers have warned the Iran nuclear talks are heading to corrosive stalemate devolving into a cycle of increased nuclear tension" and urged Tehran and Washington to show more flexibility.

Year-long talks in Vienna on reviving the deal and for the US, which was pulled out of the agreement by Donald Trump, to lift sanctions on Iran have effectively ground to a halt in a dispute over whether the west will lift the foreign terrorist organisation designation, and sanctions, against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).