Talks on Iran’s nuclear program have resumed

Negotiations to bail out the Iran nuclear deal, which resumed in Vienna today, must, according to Tehran, result in the lifting of US sanctions and a “guarantee” that Washington will return to the deal.

After a five-month hiatus, negotiations to rescue the agreement reached in 2015 resumed in late November during the eighth round between the countries remaining parties to the agreement (Germany, France, Britain, China, Iran and Russia). .

“The eighth round of Vienna talks has begun,” Allen Maton, a spokesman for the European Union, wrote on Twitter on Monday afternoon.

The negotiating trick is for the US to return to the deal, which it withdrew from in 2018 and reinstated sanctions against Iran. The United States is indirectly involved in the negotiations, as Tehran denies direct talks with Washington.

“Today, a new round of negotiations is opening. The issue of guarantees and verification” of the lifting of US sanctions if Washington returns to the agreement “are on the agenda,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. IRNA news agency.

Iranian oil

“The most important thing for us is to reach a point where we can be sure that Iranian oil will be sold easily and without any restrictions, that the money from this oil will be transferred in foreign currency to Iranian bank accounts and that we will be able to benefit. “from all the revenues of the various economic sectors”, reminded Amir-Abdullahian.

“We have reached a joint text on the nuclear issue and sanctions. Today, the first negotiations (on this issue) will begin,” he added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibadeh “advised all those involved in the talks to go to Vienna with the intention of reaching a good agreement”, underlining Tehran’s refusal to “waste time and energy”.

He reminded that the Iranian delegation will focus on two issues: “the lifting of sanctions and nuclear activity”.

“We are talking about weeks, not months”

“If we work hard in the coming days and weeks, we should have a positive result … it will be very difficult, it will be very hard. Difficult political decisions have to be made in both Tehran and Washington,” said the coordinator of the talks. European Union envoy Enrique Mora in a press conference, after today’s meeting with which the new round of negotiations officially began.

“There is a sense of urgency in all delegations that this negotiation must be completed in a relatively reasonable period of time. Again, I will not set limits but we are talking about weeks, not months,” Mora said.