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Iran
EU senior offcial Enrique Mora and Iranian Deputy at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi attend a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria on May 1, 2021. File Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran considers that further political concessions from the US are required in order to reach an agreement in Vienna, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme National Security Council secretary said on Sunday.
“Despite limited progress in the Vienna talks, we are still far from achieving the necessary balance in the commitments of the parties. Political decisions in Washington are requirements for balance of commitments to reach a good agreement,” Ali Shamkhani said in a tweet.
Shamkhani’s tweet comes as the ongoing eighth round of talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) resumed in late November, with an agreement yet to be reached.
The US State Department announced on Friday that it was waiving sanctions on Iran's civilian nuclear program. Iran's foreign ministry said that the step was "good, but not enough". Iran has continuously emphasized the need for all sanctions to be removed and for the US to guarantee that it will abide by a future agreement.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke to the EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Saturday and said that Iran’s expectations from the talks are yet to be met.
“Positive developments have taken place in the Vienna talks, but still our expectations have not been met,” Amir-Abdollahian told Borrell.
“Unfortunately, Borjam [JCPOA] has not had economic benefits for Iran in recent years. We will only reach a good agreement if it provides our economic benefits in a sustainable and reliable way,” he added.
Under former US President Donald Trump’s administration, the US withdrew from the nuclear accord and imposed a raft of sanctions in an effort to force Tehran to renegotiate a broader deal. President Joe Biden has sought to return to the deal.
Since the US withdrawal from the deal in 2018, Iran has enormously increased its
uranium enrichment.
Iran’s atomic energy agency in November said that its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium has reached over 210 kilograms. Under the JCPOA, Iran is not allowed to enrich uranium above 3.67 percent.
The US has been taking part in the talks indirectly, however in January, Iran said that they would consider holding direct talks with the US if that would facilitate the process of reaching an effective agreement.
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