Iran nuclear talks: Negotiations to restore nuclear deal to resume late November (File)
Washington:
The United States said on Thursday that “a viable agreement” on a new Iran nuclear accord was nearing its end but several key points had prevented a deal and time was running out.
Negotiators meeting in Vienna to try to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, aimed at preventing Tehran from buying an atomic bomb, have made “substantial progress,” said Jalina Porter, deputy spokeswoman for the State Department. , told reporters.
“We are close to reaching a viable agreement, but some difficult issues remain unresolved,” she said.
“We won’t have a deal unless we resolve the remaining issues quickly,” she added.
However, “if Iran shows seriousness, we can and should reach an understanding of the two sides returning to full implementation of the JCPOA within a few days,” she said, using the acronym of 2015 agreement.
Enrique Mora, the European Union’s coordinator for the negotiations, also said they were in the “final stages.”
“Several relevant issues remain open and success is never guaranteed,” he tweeted, adding “we certainly haven’t yet.”
The so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed in 2015, guarantees relief from sanctions on Iran in return for strict curbs on its nuclear program.
The agreement is between Iran on one side and Germany, China, the United States, France, Britain and Russia on the other.
The deal unraveled when former US president Donald Trump withdrew from it, with Israel’s encouragement, in 2018.
Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has now reached more than 15 times the limit set out in the 2015 agreement, the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA said.
The coming days are seen by the West as crucial, who believe the deal could soon become out of tune with the rate at which Iran is making nuclear progress.
Some observers believe that the West could leave the negotiating table and make the deal fail if no compromise is reached by the end of this week.
Among the issues, Tehran is calling for the closure of the IAEA’s investigation into the presence of nuclear material at undeclared sites.
IAEA Director General Rafael Gross, who has said the agency will “never give up” efforts to get Iran to clarify the past presence of nuclear material at these sites, will visit Iran on Tuesday. Seven to meet the country officials.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the syndication feed.)
