TEHRAN — Negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal
have entered a "critical" stage during which some key issues still
need to be resolved, Tehran's top diplomat said on Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
The 2015 accord had offered Iran sanctions relief in return
for curbs on its nuclear program, but the US unilaterally withdrew in 2018
under then-president Donald Trump.
Western powers that have been locked in nuclear talks with
Iran have said in the past week that a deal was within reach, while stressing
the ball was in the Islamic republic's court.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on
Wednesday that the negotiations had "reached a critical and important
stage".
"We hope that some sensitive and important issues
remaining in the negotiations will be resolved in the coming days with realism
from the Western side," he said at a joint press conference with his Omani
counterpart Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi.
Amir-Abdollahian said he was "optimistic" about a
deal, while insisting Iran would not give up its "red lines" in the
negotiations. He did not elaborate.
The Vienna talks, which involve Iran as well as Britain,
China, France, Germany and Russia directly, and the United States indirectly,
resumed in November.
In recent days, progress in the negotiations has been
reported by France, Germany, the US, and even Iran.
Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri plans to return to
Tehran briefly in order to consult with the country's leaders, while
"dialogue continues in Vienna", a source told AFP on Wednesday.
Signs of an agreement coming together emerged over the past
week, with France warning that Iran has just days left to accept a deal.
"It is not a question of weeks, it is a question of
days," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
"We need political decisions from the Iranians. They
have a very clear choice," he told the French Senate on February 16.
Two days later, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the
process had reached "the moment of truth".
He said there "was the chance to reach an agreement
that will allow sanctions to be lifted" but also warned that the talks
could still collapse.
Iran's sworn enemy Israel said on Sunday that a deal may be
agreed soon while warning that it would be "weaker" than the original
2015 agreement.
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