Iran has said an agreement to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was “at hand,” but insisted that sanctions be “truly lifted” through ongoing talks in Vienna.
After months of on-off negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell added to hopes of a renewed deal.
“I strongly believe an agreement is in sight,” he said on Twitter, after a call with Iran’s foreign minister.
“The moment has come to make an ultimate effort and reach a compromise,” Borrell said, in his dual capacity as coordinator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal agreed between Iran and world powers in 2015.
But Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, when meeting with Irish foreign and defense minister Simon Coveney on Monday, said that “sanctions must be truly lifted” in the ongoing negotiations to revive the deal in the Austrian capital.
“The rights of the Iranian people must be respected,” he added.
The talks involve Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly, and the United States indirectly.
A meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Joint Commission is held in Vienna, Austria, June 20, 2021. /Xinhua
The 2015 deal offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, but the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed stiff economic sanctions, prompting Tehran to begin rolling back on its commitments.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price struck a cautious note late Monday. “We are going to be a bit more circumspect in terms of progress that we may be seeing on the ground in Vienna,” said Price, adding that “Time is almost out.”
Also on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that he believed a revived agreement is “at hand,” provided the U.S. and European parties “are serious” about returning to full compliance with the deal.
Negotiations in Vienna aim to return the U.S. to the nuclear deal, including through the lifting of sanctions on Iran, and to ensure Tehran’s full compliance with its commitments.
“Our goal is the full removal of all JCPOA sanctions,” Amir-Abdollahian said, adding that “it is better for the Islamic republic to reach an agreement today rather than tomorrow.”
The drive to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal resumed in late November after a pause following Raisi’s election in June.
