Talks between Iran and world powers in Geneva have failed to reach an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told a press conference that there had been a lot of “concrete progress but some differences remain”.
Baroness Catherine Ashton said talks would resume on November 20.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he was not disappointed with the outcome, and that the talks were “something we can build on”.
Mohammad Javad Zarif said all parties were “on the same wavelength” and “there was the impetus to reach an agreement”.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “There is no question in my mind that we are closer now than we were before.”
Talks between Iran and world powers in Geneva have failed to reach an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme
The international powers are concerned that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon – but Iran says its programme is peaceful.
A proposal that was floated would require Iran to freeze expansion of nuclear activity in return for limited relief from economic sanctions.
Delegates had earlier suggested there was “good progress”.
But diplomatic sources said France had wanted tougher terms for Iran.
Before the late-night press conference, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the three days of negotiations had ended without a deal.
“The meetings in Geneva have made it possible to move forward,” he said.
“But we have not yet managed to conclude, because there are still some questions remaining to be dealt with.”
Meanwhile, John Kerry told reporters: “We have not only narrowed differences and clarified those that remain but we made significant progress in working through the approaches to this question of how one reins in a programme and guarantees its peaceful nature.”
He added that the window for diplomacy would not stay open indefinitely.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had urged the world powers not to miss an “exceptional opportunity” to seal an agreement.
The Geneva talks involve Iran and the P5+1 (the US, Russia, Britain, France and China as permanent UN Security Council members, plus Germany).
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The Nobel Peace Prize 2013 was awarded to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons”.
The OPCW is the body overseeing destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons.
The Hague-based OPCW was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
It recently sent inspectors to carry out the dismantling of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2013 was awarded to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons
The watchdog picks up a gold medal and 8 million Swedish kronor ($1.25 million) as winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honors.
Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai and gynaecologist Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo had been tipped as favorites to take the award.
Others who had been listed as contenders were Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning), the US soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks and Maggie Gobran, an Egyptian computer scientist who abandoned her academic career to become a Coptic Christian nun and founded the charity Stephen’s Children.
But an hour before Friday’s announcement, Norway’s public broadcaster reported the award would go to the OPCW.
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention has contributed to the destruction of nearly 80% of the world’s chemical weapons stockpile.
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The OPWC monitors have announced that the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons has begun.
The operation is being overseen by a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The mission was established under a United Nations resolution, which was passed after agreement between Russia and the US.
The resolution followed international outrage at a chemical weapons attack near Damascus in August.
In an interim report, UN chemical weapons inspectors confirmed that the nerve agent sarin had been used in the attack in Ghouta on the outskirts of the city on August 21.
It was estimated to have killed hundreds of people and was blamed by the United States and other Western powers on the regime of Bashar al-Assad. But he accuses Syrian rebels of being behind it.
Syria’s chemical arms destruction is being overseen by a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
“Today is the first day of destruction, in which heavy vehicles are going to run over and thus destroy missile warheads, aerial chemical bombs and mobile and static mixing and filling units,” a source with the inspection operation told the French AFP news agency.
It is not clear at which of the chemical weapons sites declared by the government, thought to number about 20, that Sunday’s operation is taking place.
The destruction of the stockpile, being carried out by the Syrians, is not expected to be straightforward, as some sites are in combat zones.
It is the first time the OPCW – based in The Hague – has been asked to oversee the destruction of a chemical weapons armory during a conflict.
The Syrian government gave details of its chemical weapons arsenal last month to the OPCW under the Russia-US agreement which also provided for Damascus to join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
That arsenal is thought to include more than 1,000 tonnes of sarin and the blister agent sulphur mustard among other banned chemicals.
Under the terms of the agreement between the US and Russia Syria’s chemical weapons capability should be removed by the middle of 2014.
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