Iran and six world powers opened a new round of talks Friday about what concessions Tehran must make on its nuclear program in exchange for a continued reduction in sanctions.
Officials from Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are expected to meet in New York for several days.
Iran has said it is committed to reaching a nuclear deal. But analysts say the chances for a breakthrough are slim ahead of the November 24 deadline that was set after the two sides failed to reach a July target date for a deal.
Separately, the White House said on Friday no meeting is planned between President Barack Obama and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, at the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week. Last year, the two leaders held a historic phone conversation at the U.N. gathering and agreed to work on resolving suspicions that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.
Earlier this week, U.S. and Iranian diplomats held bilateral talks on Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The two sides reached an interim deal last year to reduce U.S. sanctions in exchange for Iran freezing its uranium enrichment program.
Iran is pushing to preserve its ability to enrich uranium, which it says is to help generate electricity. The U.S. and many of its allies fear Iran is trying to achieve the capability of producing a nuclear bomb.
