Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the Vienna talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are facilitating and the chances for reaching a solution have increased.
“The Vienna talks have speeded up. We believe that the chances to reach a solution within the framework that had been developed during the previous rounds, including six rounds held until June 20, have increased. This is a positive thing. All parties are demonstrating readiness to solve the remaining problems,” the Russian diplomat said, as quoted by TASS news agency.
Ryabkov also mentioned that “various schemes were possible” for reaching the ultimate goal, the restoration of the Iranian nuclear deal in its original form, noting that a “A step-by-step approach based on reciprocity” is likely to be used] to achieve the main goal.
“I would like to emphasize that possible intermediate steps are not going to replace, substitute the basic agreement, which needs to be fully restored. The Russian side proceeds from this, while providing political and diplomatic assistance to <…> Iranians, Americans and Europeans,” Ryabkov stated.
Meanwhile, the Russian diplomat said that he sees no need for setting any deadlines for reaching a final decision on the Iranian nuclear deal.
Iran and the P4+1 group of countries resumed talks in Vienna last Monday (January 3) after the parties took a three-day break for the New Year. The eighth round of the Vienna talks began on December 27 with a focus on the removal of all US sanctions. The US is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the landmark deal with Iran.
During the previous round of the talks, the first under Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran presented new proposals at the negotiating table to help the talks move forward and later criticized the European signatories of the JCPOA for failing to follow suit and remaining passive.
Source: Agencies
