A senior State Department official said indirect talks between the United States and Iran on a return to a nuclear deal were entering a “final phase” and that all parties had to make difficult political decisions.
The official, who spoke by phone with reporters during the temporary suspension of talks in Vienna, believes time is running out for talks with Iran, and called on Tehran to agree to direct talks with Washington to help reach a deal.
The same source said that Iran may choose not to follow the path of compliance, a possibility that Washington is prepared to deal with, but stressed that the two sides have made progress in reducing their differences at the Vienna talks.
Iran’s nuclear program is nearing a “breakthrough” in acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities, the official said, leaving negotiators “weeks” to reach a deal that would freeze the program and ease sanctions on Tehran.
He added that if an understanding is reached on the return to the deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency will play a monitoring role for Iran’s nuclear activities. He noted that, in addition to talks on a return to the nuclear deal, there are talks on the release of Americans detained in Iran.
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On the 28th, the parties to the Vienna negotiation agreed to suspend the nuclear negotiation. Enrique Mora, the EU’s Vienna negotiation coordinator, said that the participants of the Vienna negotiation would return to their respective countries for consultation and make a political decision.
Mora added that talks will resume later this week.
Iran is negotiating with countries still part of the nuclear deal signed in 2015 (France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China). The United States is indirectly involved.
Negotiations in Vienna, which began in April last year to revive the Iran nuclear deal, resumed in late November 2021 after being suspended for about five months in June.
Tehran stressed that the priority should be to lift sanctions that Washington re-imposed on it after withdrawing from the agreement, and obtain assurances that the United States will not repeat the withdrawal.
On the other hand, the U.S. and European powers are focusing on the importance of Iran returning to fully respect its commitments under the deal, which in 2019 began phasing out of compliance in response to Washington’s unilateral withdrawal.