(Teheran) The Iranian foreign minister said France had changed its attitude and stopped playing the role of “bad cop” in the talks underway in Vienna in an attempt to save the nuclear deal.
“Yesterday, France played the role of the bad cop, but today it behaves reasonably,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview on state television, quoted Sunday by the official Irna news agency.
On Friday, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian had estimated that the negotiations on Iranian nuclear power were advancing on a “rather positive path” but had reiterated the urgency to conclude them quickly.
“I remain convinced that a good agreement can be reached,” added the French minister. “I am still a little optimistic on the subject with a lot of desire to succeed. ”
Talks to save the 2015 agreement, supposed to prevent Iran from acquiring atomic weapons, were relaunched at the end of November in Vienna after a five-month hiatus between Tehran and the countries still part of the pact (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, China).
They aim to bring back into the pact the United States, which left it in 2018, and to ensure that the Islamic Republic once again respects its commitments, from which it broke away in reaction to the reinstatement of American sanctions.
“Yesterday, the American side had unacceptable demands but today, we think that it has adapted to the realities” of the situation, underlined Mr. Amir-Abdollahian, Washington participating indirectly in the talks.
“We are close to a good agreement, but to conclude it in the short term, it is the other party who must commit,” he said.