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07-02-2022
TEHRAN/ VIENNA: The political delegations of Iran and the world powers party to its 2015 nuclear deal are due to return to Vienna for what could be the final stretch of intensive efforts to restore the landmark accord.
The eighth round of the talks, which was paused for more than a week to allow delegations to head back to their capitals for political consultations, will resume on Tuesday in the Austrian capital, multiple sides have confirmed.
While different sides have said real progress has been made since late November when the talks restarted after a months-long pause, it is clear that significant hurdles remain on the way to reaching an agreement to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The Iranian government still refuses to talk directly with the United States, which unilaterally abandoned the deal in 2018 and re-imposed harsh sanctions on Iran. This means European officials will have to continue their shuttle diplomacy between the two.
Iranian officials said on Monday that the onus falls on the Western parties to fulfil Iran’s expectations of sanctions relief.
In a joint conference in Tehran alongside his Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said a swift agreement in Vienna depended on the conduct and political will of the US and the so-called E3 France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
“In the latest texts achieved in the Vienna negotiations, parts of our demands on lifting sanctions have not been considered,” he said. Still, he expressed hope that “in this round, we will reach a final agreement”.
Earlier on Monday, Iran’s Security Chief Ali Shamkhani said in a tweet that the Iranian team would head to Vienna with a clear agenda of lifting sanctions.
“An agreement in which the sanctions that form the maximum pressure are not lifted will condition the country’s economy and cannot be the basis of a good deal,” he wrote in reference to a policy of the administration of former US President Donald Trump that his successor, Joe Biden, continues to enforce. (Int’l News Desk)
