Two weeks ago in Vienna, we extended the deadline for reaching a deal with Iran until the end of June 2015. We did not do a deal there because there was no good deal on the table. We extended the deadline because we want to test whether a good deal is possible.

As British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said following the announcement of the extension of the talks, “Our clear aim remains to reach, within the next few months, a comprehensive agreement which addresses international concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. Extending the negotiations will allow extra space and time to try to achieve this.”

The talks in Vienna were tough. There were big gaps between the two sides. We made some progress, on some of the issues, but significant differences remained. In these circumstances, it made sense to extend the deadline until the summer.

I know that there are deep concerns in Israel about these negotiations. There are five particular concerns that I want to address.

First, an extension does not mean we have reached an impasse. We have extended the negotiations to give us the opportunity to reach a good deal, because we want to see if a deal can be done. But we have not got there yet.

Iran needs to be more realistic about the scope of its enrichment program, fully address international concerns including about the past, and take some tough decisions about the future.

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