Deal in Vienna Talks Attainable If US Submits to JCPOA: Iranian Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Should the US accept that it has to comply with nothing more or less than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting and reliable agreement in the Vienna negotiations will be readily achievable, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh raised the possibility of a final agreement in the ongoing Vienna talks on the revival of the JCPOA and lifting of the sanctions on Tehran.
If the other parties, especially the US, make their decisions after returning to Vienna following the temporary hiatus in the talks and avoid demanding anything beyond the JCPOA or making concessions less than what has been stipulated by the JCPOA, a sustainable and reliable agreement will be achievable swiftly, he said.
On the temporary hiatus in the talks, Khatibzadeh said the negotiating parties have had such breaks in the past as well.
“The negotiations have made good progress in the past three weeks. There has been some sluggishness in the negotiations because the other side has not made decisions and has not shown initiatives,” the spokesman said.
He went on to say that the Iranian negotiators are taking part in the Vienna talks with reliance on “national consensus” and the “domestic capacities”.
Iran and the remaining participants to the JCPOA have been holding talks in Vienna since April last year with the aim of reviving the deal by bringing the US into full compliance.
The US left the JCPOA in May 2018 under former president Donald Trump. The Vienna talks began on a promise by Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, to rejoin the deal and repeal the so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran. Biden, however, has so far failed to undo Trump’s own undoing of Barack Obama’s Iran policy, which led to the JCPOA in June 2015.
The eighth round of the Vienna talks began on December 27 with a focus on the removal of all sanctions that the United States had imposed on Iran after its unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA. The US is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the deal with Iran.