Kerry’s comments came in a stopover in London before he heads to Geneva Sunday for two more days of talks with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian regime’s foreign minister.

Kerry told a press conference at the US Embassy in London: “There are still significant gaps, there is still a distance to travel”.

“President Obama has no inclination whatsoever to extend these talks beyond the period that has been set out.”

He added that Obama was “fully prepared to stop these talks” if necessary.

US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz flew in to snow-covered Geneva on Saturday to take part in the talks for the first time, and at Kerry’s request.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the director of the Iranian regime’s Atomic Energy Organisation, was also taking part in the negotiations.

The clerical regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, said during a speech on Wednesday: “I believe even if we accept in the nuclear issue what they are dictating, the sanctions will still not be removed because they oppose the revolution itself.”

He said: “We can stand against the enemies’ fanfare in the sanctions. If sanctions are to stay, it is the Iranian nation that will sanction them in an appropriate time in the future. The largest share of gas in the world belongs to the Iranian nation and Europe needs this gas.”

Ali Khamenei is deeply worried that, by setting aside the nuclear projects, the position of the Supreme Leader within the regime is weakened and the totality of the regime is poised to collapse.

The same day, Hassan Rouhani said in another speech: “Due to the noisy nature of the nuclear negotiations, these [nuclear] activities and progress have been overshadowed to some extent … we do not and will not get permission from anyone to advance in science and knowledge. Nobody should think that because we are in negotiations and engagement with the world we want to abandon the scientific advancement.”

On Thursday, a confidential report by the Vienna based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program said Tehran had still not provided information about two areas of the IAEA’s investigation that was due by late August.

The confidential document was issued to IAEA member states weeks before a March deadline for a framework agreement between the Iranian regime and the six world powers.