article: The White House was stalling for time on Wednesday as talks with Iran over its nuclear program threatened to stretch into another day of overtime. President Barack Obama's spokesman refused to give reporters an update on the status of the meetings or scheduling, saying he would leave those announcements to negotiators. But he confirmed that 'the sense that we have is yes, that the talks continue to be productive and that progress is being made.' Speculation was swirling on Wednesday afternoon that representatives from the six countries, including the U.S., participating in the Switzerland-based discussions with Iran in were on the verge of making a deal as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius rushed back to Lausanne. Scroll down for video . U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, checks his watch outside the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in a break during Iran nuclear program talks in Lausanne. Six world powers and Iran are still trying to reach a preliminary accord on reining in Tehran's nuclear program, after failing to agree crucial details such as the lifting of U.N. sanctions by a midnight deadline the day before . German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had said earlier in the day that his French counterpart would come back once the discussions 'enter a decisive stage.' A French official told Reuters Fabius' return should not be interpreted to mean a deal was imminent, however. Already on hand were U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. A spokesman for Kerry said Wednesday afternoon that the cabinet-level official would remain in Switzerland overnight and indicated that a political 'understanding' with Iran had not yet been reached. Journalists covering the talks in Switzerland were provided with a 'lid,' or promise that no news would be made, until at least the wee hours of Thursday morning, meaning news of a deal, if one is in the works, could come as early as Wednesday evening on the East Coast. The White House's top spokesman Josh Earnest cautiously discussed the ongoing talks as he fielded more than a dozen pointed questions on the subject during his daily briefing Wednesday afternoon. Rotating between tough talk and a soft-handed approach, Earnest said 'the time has come for the Iranian negotiators to begin to make the kind of serious commitments that international community, including the United States, will insist upon. 'While the talks have been productive, we have not yet received the specific tangible commitments that the international community seeks.' Discussions were scheduled to cease at Midnight on Tuesday if Iran was still unwilling to agree to terms set forth by Russia, China, Britain, Germany, the U.S. and France, known globally as the P5+1. The White House had last week said that March 31 was a hard deadline for a preliminary accord, to be formalized by June 30, and that talks had dragged on long enough. As the clocked ticked down, however, it made an about-face and said the U.S. would continue to work toward a deal as long as it felt progress was being made. Earnest said Wednesday that the United States' thinking 'hasn't changed' and it would not 'arbitrarily' or 'abruptly' end talks if it made sense to continue. At the same time, he said, if the U.S. sense that 'the talks have stalled' they, in conjunction with the international community, would walk away. GOOD NEWS ON THE WAY? From left: British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Senior Director at the National Security Council Robert Malley and Kerry chat during a break in discussions . STALL TACTICS: President Barack Obama's spokesman, Josh Earnest, refused to give reporters an update on the status of the meetings or scheduling on Wednesday afternoon, saying he would leave those announcements to negotiators . He rejected the notion that the U.S. was giving Iran too much 'leeway' in the talks, telling a reporter, we are 'insisting on a good deal.' A good deal, the White House said said on repeat, is one that would stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and the president will not accept a 'bad deal.' What would happen if an acceptable deal cannot be reached was unclear as the White House was won't to engage in hypothetical scenarios. 'I am at this point reluctant to fast forward to what would happen at the end of the day if an agreement is not reached because they are still discussing an agreement right now as we speak,' Earnest told reporters. If diplomacy, fails, he said that the 'military option' would be considered as would additional sanctions. The White House has resisted bipartisan efforts to put new restrictions on Iran throughout the last several months, saying it would veto sanctions legislation if it came to the president's desk. 'But yeah, if those negotiations break down and the Iranians walk away without demonstrating the willingness to make some serious commitments, then that does bring some of those issues back into play,' Earnest said Wednesday. 'We'll evaluate that when we come to it.' Senators have said they will begin voting on legislation to insert themselves into the process after they return from their Passover-Easter break on April 13 if the White House hasn't sealed a deal. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with the White House's national security team, participate on Tuesday in a secure video teleconference from the Situation Room of the White House with Secretary of State John Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and the U.S. team in Lausanne, Switzerland . Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Wednesday morning that 'ministers have reached a general agreement on all key aspects of a final settlement of this issue.' Asserting that 'it will be put down in writing over the next few hours, maybe during the day, Lavrov added. And Britain's Hammond said, 'I think we have a broad framework of understanding, but there are still some key issues that have to be worked through.' 'Some of them are quite detailed and technical so there is still quite a lot of work to do but we are on it now and we'll keep going at it,' he noted. U.S. diplomats said it was 'not true,' as Lavrov suggested, that key issues had been worked out. The White House's spokesman did not directly deny that an agreement was already being drafted when he spoke to reporters later that day. 'I think I would only point out that there's not a significant difference between those two verbs,' he said after a reporter asked him if talks had moved on from the negotiation stage to the drafting stage. 'It's possible to do both,' he said, playing coy. 'It's possible to negotiate as you draft or to draft as you negotiate.' A source on the ground in Switzerland following the talks told Daily Mail Online that it 'would shock everybody here' if Iran conceded to the international community's demands to significantly scale back its uranium enrichment program and ship out much of what it has already produced because 'there is no indication that the parties have moved.' The source described the situation as a 's***show' at this point and said negotiators are poised to 'limp across' the finish line. 'The Americans desperately needed something to come back to Congress with,' the source said, predicting that the Obama administration will make a 'face-saving concession' that will be announced late tonight or early tomorrow morning. The White House told reporters on Wednesday that whether a pact is made in the end or not, the president will address the public to explain the administration's rationale.
highlights: President Barack Obama's spokesman refused to give reporters an update on the status of the meetings or scheduling .
  'The sense that we have is yes, that the talks continue to be productive and that progress is being made,' he said .
  Speculation was swirling Wednesday that negotiators were on the verge of a breakthrough as the French Foreign Minister rushed back to Switzerland .
  White House wouldn't talk about next steps if a deal could not be reached but admitted that a 'military option' was on the table as well as sanctions .
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