U.S. says trilateral Iran nuclear talks "tough, direct and serious"

The trilateral talks on Iran's nuclear programs in Muscat, capital of Oman, were "tough, direct and serious," said a U.S. State Department spokesperson Monday.

The negotiators are still "very focused on making progress and seeing if we can get a deal done before the deadline," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a press briefing, adding that "there's still time to do so."

The two-day meeting, attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif and EU envoy Catherine Ashton, came just two weeks before the Nov. 24 deadline for a comprehensive deal on Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

After the meeting, an Iranian official told reporters that little progress was made after the talks, and gaps still remain over the core issues.

Psaki said the political directors will continue to meet in Oman for "a yet-to-be-determined amount of time" before reconvening of new round of meetings next week in Europe.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany -- agreed in July to extend the nuclear talks for another four months till Nov. 24 after failing to narrow down gaps on core issues during negotiations over the previous six months. Enditem