‘Good Deal’ within Reach in Vienna Talks: Iran’s FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s foreign minister hoped the talks underway in Vienna between Tehran and the P4+1 group of countries on the revival of the 2015 deal will lead to a “good agreement in the near future”.
Speaking upon arrival in Germany on Friday to participate in the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC), Hossein Amirabdollahian said the meeting would be an opportunity to announce the Iranian administration's foreign policy and its stance on regional issues, not least the current crises in West Asia.
“As for the Islamic Republic of Iran and the active initiatives it has put on the negotiating table, we are very close to a good agreement,” he said.
“But it is the Western parties that must show their true initiative and flexibility and determine these negotiations will lead to a result within the next few days or weeks (with their approach to Iran's initiatives).”
The top Iranian diplomat emphasized that there are still some outstanding issues in the Vienna talks but Iran’s lead negotiator Ali Baqeri and members of his team would continue the negotiations with seriousness in order to reach a good agreement.
Later on Friday, the Iranian foreign minister and Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres held talks about the latest developments regarding the Vienna talks and regional issues.
The United States left the Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018 and began to implement what it called the “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, depriving the country of the economic benefits of the agreement, including the removal of sanctions, for which Iran had agreed to certain caps on its nuclear activities.
In the meantime, the other parties to the deal, in particular France, Britain and Germany, only paid lip service to safeguarding Iran’s economic dividends as promised under the JCPOA, prompting Iran – after an entire year of “strategic patience” – to reduce its nuclear obligations in a legal move under the deal.
The Vienna talks began last April on the assumption that the US, under the Joe Biden administration, is willing to repeal the so-called maximum pressure policy pursued by former President Donald Trump.
Tehran says it will not settle for anything less than the removal of all US sanctions in a verifiable manner. It also wants guarantees that Washington would not abandon the agreement again.
The Iranian foreign minister on Wednesday reiterated that reaching a final agreement in Vienna solely depends on the Western side’s responsible attitude.