GENEVA — The foreign policy chief of the European Union spent much of Thursday in detailed negotiations with Iranian officials over an agreement to temporarily freeze Tehran's nuclear program.
But the day ended without reports of a breakthrough and with a warning by a leading American lawmaker that he was prepared to introduce legislation next month that would impose new economic sanctions on Iran.
The talks on Thursday between Catherine Ashton, the European Union's top foreign policy official, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, were described by a spokesman for Ms. Ashton as "intense" and "substantial."
Their negotiations were to continue Friday morning.
Reports in the Iranian news media suggested that the talks might continue into the weekend and could end with the arrival of Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of other world powers if a deal appeared close. But whether the remaining issues can be resolved was unclear.
At issue is an interim agreement that the United States and five other world powers are seeking to halt progress in Iran's program for six months so negotiators could pursue a more comprehensive agreement.
President Obama has told lawmakers that the United States was prepared to provide $6 billion to $7 billion in sanctions relief as part of the interim accord.
Adding to the drama was a starkly anti-Zionist speech on Wednesday by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Politicians in Israel expressed outrage not only about Ayatollah Khamenei's description of Israel as "the rabid dog of the region," but also about the mild condemnation that the speech elicited from the United States and much of Europe.
Hilik Bar, the deputy speaker of Israel's Parliament and a member of the opposition Labor Party, wrote to Mr. Kerry and Ms. Ashton insisting that they "stand up against the dark, racist statements and incitement."
Asked about Ayatollah Khamenei's comments by Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, during Mr. Kerry's testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, the secretary of state expressed his unhappiness with the speech, though he appeared to temper his response to avoid unsettling the talks.
"It's inflammatory, and it's unnecessary," Mr. Kerry said. "I don't want to exacerbate it now sitting here, but our good friends in Israel know full well that we defend their concerns."
Leading members of Congress were less constrained. Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, introduced legislation on Thursday that would give the White House 60 days to conclude an interim agreement. If such an accord were achieved and Mr. Obama were later informed that the Iranians were not in compliance with some of its provisions, the president would have no more than 15 days to reverse the sanctions relief that he had granted Iran.
Mr. Corker's legislation would also give the White House no more than 180 additional days to conclude a more comprehensive agreement that the Obama administration says it is seeking or any sanctions that had been relaxed would be reimposed.
The aim of the legislation is to prevent the Iranians from dragging out the talks and making an initial agreement the final one.
It also would set more stringent terms for a comprehensive deal than Iran is currently prepared to accept by demanding that Tehran end uranium enrichment.
Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said on Thursday that he was prepared to move ahead next month with legislation that would toughen economic sanctions if Iran continued with its nuclear efforts.
"While I support the administration's diplomatic effort, I believe we need to leave our legislative options open to act on a new, bipartisan sanctions bill in December," Mr. Reid said.
Jodi Rudoren contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Thomas Erdbrink from Tehran.
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