Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday that good progress has been made in Vienna talks, but noted that some key issues need to be agreed upon.
Araqchi, who leads Iran’s delegation to Vienna talks which are aimed at reviving the nuclear deal with world powers, said that certain important issues still remain to be hammered out by Tehran and its partners in the 2015 nuclear deal before they can reach an agreement on a potential revival of the accord.
He stressed that the onus is now on the US and the other co-signatories to make “difficult decisions” for that to happen.
“All in all, we made good progress, but there are issues left [unresolved], without which an agreement couldn’t be reached, and which have yet to be decided,” Araqchi told reporters at the end of the fifth round of talks between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries, as quoted by Mehr news agency.
“It is not us but…the signatories to the JCPOA and the United States that must…take their own difficult decisions and adapt themselves to the positions of the Islamic Republic,” the Iranian diplomat said.
“If this happens, we can naturally reach an agreement. Otherwise, we will either have no agreement or hold more consultations.”
Following 10 days of intensive talks, the negotiating delegations concluded that they needed to return to their capitals once again for almost week-long consultations, the Iranian diplomat said, adding that this round of negotiations was not halted but was just adjourned in order to reach better conclusions about the remaining unsolved issues.
“Nothing can be predicted in diplomatic negotiations by 100 percent. Rationally, the next round of talks could be the final one,” he said.
He added that the five parties to the JCPOA – Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – and the United States had to make their “difficult decisions” and adapt their positions to those of Iran.
“It is important that we have held several discussions about the main points of difference. There are solutions to each of them, which should be discussed and the best one should be selected,” Araqchi said.
Source: Iranian media
