Representatives of Iran’s new round of nuclear talks have expressed optimism Nuclear Energy News

Progress has been made in Vienna, but both sides have yet to make “difficult decisions” if an agreement is to be reached.

Tehran, Iran – Eighth and probably last round conferences in Vienna He looks forward to restoring Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Meeting of the Joint Committee of the other participants Integrated Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is formally known, ended on Monday night in the Austrian capital, with numerous bilateral and tripartite meetings between different delegations.

However, there was no direct meeting between Iranian and US representatives, as Tehran refuses to speak directly with Washington after the US unilaterally abandoned the agreement in 2018.

After the main meeting at the Palais Coburg, Iranian chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani said delegates agreed that “good progress” had been made in the seventh round, which ended 10 days earlier, and that there was now “a good framework” for talks. .

“The most important thing at this Joint Committee meeting was the importance of prioritizing the removal of sanctions by the various parties, as well as the checks and guarantees in the eighth round,” he said.

Bagheri said negotiations would continue on Tuesday. The Iranian delegation has previously said it is ready to stay in Vienna until an agreement acceptable to Tehran is reached.

As a result of the US leaving the JCPOA under former President Donald Trump, Iran is now demanding a complete lifting of sanctions, a guarantee that the US will not back down again and a deadline to verify that sanctions are effectively lifted.

The JCPOA has eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for a reduction in its nuclear program. But after the U.S. withdrew and imposed sanctions, Iran pushed those restrictions aside and is now using advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium to 60 percent.

Enrique Morak, the EU’s co-ordinator of the meeting, told reporters outside the room that there was limited time due to Iran’s nuclear progress, but all delegations wanted to end the talks successfully.

“We have come a long way since the beginning of the negotiations. We have introduced the sensibilities of a new Iranian government. So from the coordinator’s point of view, we are at the point where we should be if we want to achieve a successful end result, ”he said, referring to the government of Conservative President Ebrahim Raisi, who came to power in August.

“If we work hard in the coming days and weeks, we should have a positive outcome. It will be very difficult. Difficult political decisions have to be made in both Tehran and Washington. “

Russia’s chief negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov called the meeting “business-oriented and results-oriented” with a view to reaching an agreement as soon as possible, noting that the eighth round was “supposedly the last round” of negotiations.

Earlier Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the eighth round would be based on a new joint and “acceptable” document.