video transcript

(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION) The United States and top Gulf Arab ally Saudi Arabia said on Monday (March 4) that talks between Iran and world powers on a diplomatic solution to its disputed nuclear programme could not go on indefinitely. Israel is convinced Tehran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, has grown impatient with the protracted talks and has threatened pre-emptive war against Tehran if it deems diplomacy ultimately futile. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a finite amount of time for talks between a group of six world powers and Tehran. "The focus for the moment, the first focus is the most urgent focus which remains the challenge of the nuclear programme. That is a threat that extends all throughout the region and in fact globally because of the issue of non-proliferation. So the initial focus is on that issue. And the answer to your first part of the question is: It is absolutely not unlimited. Talks will not go on for the sake of talks. And talks cannot become an instrument for delay that, in the end, make the situation more dangerous. So there is a finite amount of time." he said in Riyadh on his first overseas trip as Secretary of State. Kerry was speaking at a news conference held jointly with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal, who suggested Iran - Saudi Arabia's main regional adversary - was not showing sufficient seriousness about the discussions, which he said "cannot go on forever".