Iran’s top negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, said Tehran was standing firm on the position it laid out last week when the talks broke off with European and US officials accusing Iran of making new demands and of reneging on compromises worked out earlier this year.
The talks resumed on Thursday with the United States and Israel – which is not a party to the 2015 deal – piling rhetorical pressure on Tehran about the possible economic or military consequences if diplomacy fails.
Read more: Israel begs US to suspend Iran nuclear talks
Iran’s stance
Asked whether new draft proposals that Iran had put forward last week were being discussed, Bagheri Kani told Reuters: “Yes, the drafts we proposed last week are being discussed now in meetings with other parties.”
SCOOP: Biden Admin Waives Sanctions on Iran as Nuclear Talks Restart — Critics accuse admin of 'delivering a dressed-up Chanukah present to the regime' to help jumpstart long-stalled negotiations https://t.co/6E161a0qv4
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Bagheri said last week that “all the issues that had been drafted during the previous negotiations until June can be negotiated”.
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A European source, speaking on condition of anonymity, appeared to suggest that Iran had agreed to continue talks from where they left off in June. This would be put to the test in the next couple of days, the source said, but made no mention of Iran’s new proposals. Iranian officials denied it.
Looking back at the fall out of talksÂ
Under the original deal that then-President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from the US, European Union and UN sanctions. The West fears the program would be used to develop weapons, something Tehran denies.
The indirect US-Iranian talks, in which diplomats from France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China shuttle between them because Tehran refuses direct contact with Washington, aim to get both sides to resume full compliance with the accord.
A year after Trump’s reimposition of sanctions on Iran, Tehran began to gradually violate the nuclear limits of the agreement. Iran wants all sanctions to be lifted.
“Iran’s seriousness is obvious. See who has cancelled other meetings and is in Vienna and who is not,” Bagheri Kani said.
Read more: Iran not interested in nuclear talks: US
His comments suggested he was alluding to the United States’ chief negotiator Rob Malley, who is not expected to arrive in Vienna until the weekend.
However, a senior European Union official said on Friday the talks are moving forward and that various big matters were still open for a deal on a final text.
The talks resumed last week after a five-month hiatus caused by the June election of hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s president.
Reuters with additional input by GVS