U.S. President Barack Obama said on February 9 that a further extension of nuclear negotiations with Iran will not be useful if Tehran does not agree to a basic framework.
Obama made the comments at the White House after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He said, "At this juncture I don't see a further extension being useful if they have not agreed to the basic formulation and the bottom line that the world requires.”
Iran and six global powers have set a March target for a political agreement and a June 30 deadline for a comprehensive deal aimed at ensuring that Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons.
Obama said the issues discussed at the nuclear talks are no longer "technical."
"The issues now are: does Iran have the political will and the desire to get a deal done," he said.
With reporting by Reuters
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!["[Russian President Vladimir Putin] is trying to understand what went wrong. And he cannot, because if he accepts the idea that almost everything he knew was wrong, it would be a huge blow to his general worldview," says Russian analyst Vladislav Inozemtsev.](https://gdb.rferl.org/f3fa21c9-5015-440f-aae9-2b7598ad075c_cx0_cy6_cw99_w33_r1.jpg)
