U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves as he arrives in front of a hotel where closed-door nuclear talks on Iran take place in Vienna, Austria, Monday, July 14, 2014. Kerry will hold in-depth discussions... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, foreground, holds a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry background right, on the second straight day of talks, in Vienna, Austria, Monday July... (Associated Press) 
 
 British Foreign Secretary William Hague, left, meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at talks between the foreign ministers of the six powers negotiating with Tehran on its nuclear program in... (Associated Press) 
 
 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaves the hotel where closed-door nuclear talks on Iran take place in Vienna, Austria, , Monday, July 14, 2014. Washington is leading the insistence on deep enrichment cuts. The expiration of the interim deal 
 
 After decades of tense relations and mistrust, Iran and the United States (as part of the P5+1 Group) surprised the world by managing to secure an interim deal last fall that would ease sanctions on the Islamic Republic in exchange for suspending work on its nuclear program. "There is a huge gap" 
 
 As reported, several gaps remain between the six countries and Iran, including major questions about the level to which Iran can enrich its uranium.
– A Sunday deadline is looming for Iran to strike a nuclear deal with six world powers under a plan set in motion last year—but with just days to go, Iran's supreme leader has made the chances of a deal being forged in time look supremely unlikely. In a major speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country will need 190,000 centrifuge machines, 19 times as many as the 10,000 negotiators from the US, France, Britain, Russia, China, and Germany want to limit the country to in order to reduce its capacity to build nuclear weapons. After the leader's speech appeared to undermine negotiators, analysts began to wonder whether Iran really wants a deal that would limit its nuclear capacity in return for the lifting of sanctions, or if Khamenei is playing for time, the Atlantic notes. "In ostensibly expressing support for the Iranian negotiating team, close scrutiny of Khamenei's speech shows that in reality his remarks were aimed at severely curtailing his team's room for maneuver, making it effectively impossible to bridge gaps with the stance" of the six powers, an intelligence analysis seen by Reuters states. If all sides agree, the talks could be extended for another six months, though US officials say they will need to see some progress in the days to come before they will agree to an extension. John Kerry joined the talks in Vienna yesterday, but it's not clear whether he made any progress during hours of talks with Iran's foreign minister; issues including Afghanistan were also discussed, the AP reports.