ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal are “on the right track,” Tehran’s representative at negotiations in Vienna said on Saturday.
“After days of intensive talks, it appears that we are now on the right track. But difficult way to go,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tweeted, adding that it is “too soon to predict the result.”
Members of the 2015 nuclear accord have been meeting in Vienna, with the United States participating indirectly, to find a way to bring the US back into the deal and Iran into full compliance. Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed a “maximum pressure” sanctions regime in a bid to force Iran to negotiate a broader deal that would also include its missile program and regional activities. Iran responded by walking back on its nuclear commitments and is now enriching uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the deal.
The new administration in Washington wants to return to the agreement and the current talks between Iran, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany are aimed at determining what sanctions the US should lift and steps Iran must take to scale back its nuclear activity.
“Progress has been made in a far from easy task,” said Enrique Mora, the European Union envoy chairing the talks. “We need now more detailed work. Key that everyone is committed to the same objectives: US rejoining the JCPOA and its full implementation,” he said, referring to the deal by its official title, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Russia’s ambassador, Mikhail Ulyanov, expressed satisfaction with the progress made and said expert groups will continue meeting over the weekend and into next week.
US President Joe Biden on Friday said Iran’s increased uranium enrichment is not “at all helpful… It is contrary to the agreement. We are, though, nonetheless pleased that Iran has continued to agree to engage in discussions.”
“I think it’s premature to make a judgment as to what the outcome will be, but we’re still talking,” he added.
