The countdown to the end of the six-month talks in Vienna on the future of the Iran nuclear deal has begun. No official deadline has been set for the talks, but if there is no progress in less than two weeks, the process will end, leaving a dangerous void.
And the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced today, Monday, that there are important differences in the Vienna nuclear talks, in addition to the slow pace of negotiations, which is a source of concern, as she put it.
And Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department, warned that “time is very short, just weeks, not months,” referring to the time remaining before the deadline for the talks.
race against time
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gave the same time frame, but said that despite these developments in Iran’s nuclear programme, including its 60% enrichment levels, faster progress was needed.
Meanwhile, those close to the talks confirmed that they believed an agreement could be reached, but from a Western perspective, its scope is likely to be very limited and will be seen as temporary, according to the British newspaper, The Guardian.
Resume conversations
Large-scale talks will resume on Monday, with the UK’s new chief negotiator Stephanie Al-Qaq represented, and Germany’s Thorvin Bellmann represented.
The European Union coordinator in the negotiations, Enrique Mora, confirmed that success is still uncertain.
And he said in a tweet on his Twitter account, on Sunday, that “the success of the talks in the Austrian capital on the Iranian nuclear deal is uncertain.”
lift sanctions
It is noteworthy that, since the start of the talks and throughout the eight rounds, Tehran has not stopped stressing the priority of lifting the economic sanctions imposed on it by Washington in the wake of its withdrawal from the agreement, and obtaining guarantees that this withdrawal will not be repeated.
While the United States and the European parties focused on the importance of the Iranian authorities’ return to fully respecting their obligations under the agreement, which they began to retract from them dramatically starting in 2019.
The 2015 agreement made it possible to lift several economic sanctions imposed on Iran, in exchange for limiting its nuclear activities and ensuring the peacefulness of its program. A massive Iranian retreat from all commitments.
Source: Arabic