Your trusted source

Russia’s negotiator said Friday there has been a “very worrying” slowdown in progress in nuclear talks between Iran and six major powers ahead of a June 30 deadline to finalize a historic accord, AFP reports.

“The rate of progress ... is progressively slowing down,” Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti as he arrived for the latest round of talks in Vienna.

“This is very worrying to us because there is very little time before the deadline and we urgently need to enter the final stage.”

Another Russian agency, ITAR-TASS, quoted a diplomatic source as saying that the talks, which took place Friday, are “practically stuck. There is a risk that the deadline will be extended again.”

In April, Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany agreed to the outlines of a deal aimed at ending the decade-old standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

According to this framework, due to be finalized by June 30, Iran will dramatically scale down its nuclear activities in order to render any dash to making nuclear weapons all but impossible.

In return, Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, will see painful sanctions lifted by the six powers.