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World powers have reconvened in Vienna for fresh talks to return Iran to a renewed JCPOA agreement, for the first time since talks stalled in March. Officials said this was not another round of talks but finalisation of the agreement which “Iran ought to take”.
A senior EU official said that Iran has agreed to restart talks following guarantees from the United States that it would not damage the deal by going back on its word, as it had done under the previous Trump Administration. The official said the negotiators were “exhausted” and that this is not another round of talks but that they were “here to finalise the text”.
The EU official stated: “We now have substantial guarantees…It’s my understanding Iran is happy and feels satisfied with what is in the text”. Iran had originally demanded the US remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its terror backlist, but this demand has now been dropped in the negotiations and will instead be looked at “in the future” after a potential deal.
Roadblocks still remain for a final deal to be signed and Iran and US still need to agree on “issues related to sanctions lifting and of a couple of nuclear questions that did not exist in March”. This is due to recent reports by the IAEA that Iran’s nuclear programme has advanced considerably over the last few months.
The US National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby said Iran “ought to take” the finalised deal that was currently on the table and stressed that “time does appear to be getting very short in terms of being able to get a deal”.
