(Tehran) The talks in Vienna on the Iranian nuclear issue are in a “complicated” phase, but not deadlocked, said Monday in Tehran the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Posted at 4:26 p.m.
Iran is engaged in negotiations with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly and with the United States indirectly to revive the nuclear deal reached in 2015 and supposed to prevent Tehran from acquiring of the atomic bomb.
Discussions were launched in April 2021 to save the agreement signed by Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Great Britain, France and Germany, and from which Washington unilaterally withdrew in 2018.
Talks resumed in late November after several months of suspension and participants reported progress.
“The negotiations are complicated and difficult, as they touch on key issues that require serious political decisions, especially from Washington,” Said Khatibzadeh told a press briefing in Tehran.
But there “is no stalemate in Vienna”, he stressed, adding that an agreement could be concluded soon “if the American and European parties show real determination”.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell meanwhile indicated on Twitter “strongly believe that an agreement is in sight”, after an “important call” with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
“The time has come to make a last push and reach a compromise,” he said.
Asked about these optimistic remarks, the United States was cautious.
“We’re going to be a little more circumspect in terms of progress,” US Foreign Minister Ned Price told reporters in Washington. “We are in the final, decisive phase, during which we will be able to say whether a mutual return” in the 2015 agreement “is possible”, he added.
But “there is almost no time left,” warned the American official.
” Opportunity ”
On a visit to Tehran, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defense Simon Coveney considered that the Western parties to the Vienna negotiations were “serious and committed”. They “are deeply committed to making this work,” he told a news conference.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe there was an opportunity,” added Coveney, whose country acted as a facilitator of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which validated the 2015 agreement.
“Ireland wants to contribute to this process in any way possible to help move forward” in the negotiations, he further said.
The US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal was followed by the reinstatement of US economic sanctions against Tehran. In response, Iran withdrew from key restrictions on its nuclear activities under the pact.
The talks aim to implement a “mutual back” from Washington and Tehran in the deal that offers sanctions relief on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
“We need objective guarantees to ensure that the United States does not leave the agreement once again and honor its commitments,” Mr. Khatibzadeh said. “All sanctions, regardless of their wording, must be lifted at the same time. »
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said on Twitter on Monday that “the end of speculation depends on the American political decision to accept or refuse the conditions essential for a reliable and lasting agreement based on the principles. accepted” in the 2015 agreement.
Iran has always denied seeking to acquire atomic weapons.