Chief negotiators to return to Vienna on weekend

Expert work is going on in Vienna, while the top negotiators of Iran, the U.S., France, UK, and Germany returned to their respective capitals to reconvene in Palais Coburg.

The talks have entered a vital stage, with all sides preparing a draft. However, Iran says there are still important differences to be ironed out.

However, a senior U.S. diplomat told reporters on Monday that the parties have made progress in narrowing down the list of differences in the latest round of talks in Vienna on trying to restore the nuclear deal, and that now is the time for political decisions to finalize it.

“We made progress narrowing down the list of differences to just the key priorities on all sides,” the senior State Department official, speaking not for attribution, said. “And that’s why now is a time for political decisions,” Rozen quoted the official as saying.

The U.S. State Department official continued, “If we all don’t move with that urgency, that opportunity will very soon disappear.”

Iran has also called for speeding up the negotiations, saying that the E3 inactivity has slowed down progress.

“If the day after the delegations return to Vienna, they respond correctly to what has been said to them as the natural rights of Iran and to the texts that Iran has given them, and if they keep their demands within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), we can reach a lasting, good and reliable agreement the next day, and there is no need for artificial deadlines,” Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters on Monday.

Khatibzadeh added that in the last three weeks, the negotiations have made significant progress in all four key points of lifting sanctions, nuclear commitments, verification and obtaining guarantees, although in some areas they have been more significant and faster, and in others due to the inaction of the other side and lack of necessary decisions or lack of initiative and creativity by the other side, there have been delays.

“We recommend that after returning from their capitals, the delegations return with the necessary decisions so that we can quickly summarize what we have drafted,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Abbas Moqtadaei, the deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the parliament, announced on Tuesday the holding of an extraordinary meeting of the committee with Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s senior negotiator, on the latest status of the Vienna talks.

The Isfahan representative stated that in the meeting, Bagheri presented a detailed report and then the committee members expressed their views.

He continued by saying that the parliament and the foreign ministry, in order to maximize cooperation, insisted on the need how to implement the parliamentary ratification to protect the rights of the Iranian people.

“Both sides focused on protection of the rights of the Iranian people and agreed that these rights should be considered at the highest level,” he added.

The MP noted that issues related to foreign policy and how to manage them were reviewed in the meeting.

END