US Secretary of State John Kerry in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during nuclear talks in Vienna. Some experts and allies are urging the US to be soft on the June 30 deadline. Photo: Wikimedia.

With a June 30 deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran approaching, western experts and foreign allies — including a top Israeli official — are urging the Obama administration not to treat that date as sacred for fear of giving Tehran leverage in the high-stakes talks.

“The Iranians are using delay tactics. It seems they want to come close to the deadline without an agreement,” Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s energy minister, who is in Washington this week for meetings with top Obama officials, told POLITICO on Thursday. If that happens, Steinitz said, “there will be no time to close all the loopholes and clarify all the details. And this will serve the Iranians.”

Read full story at Politico.