Vienna talks for revival of nuclear deal to continue till Iran's interests are secured, says Minister
May 26, 2021
Tehran [Iran], May 26 : Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Tuesday said that country would continue the talks in Vienna to revive the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) until its interests are secured.
He made this remark in an interview after the first session of the fifth round of talks in Vienna on Tuesday with the presence of Iran and other countries.
"The talks would continue through two working groups on Iran's nuclear measure and the US sanctions and the third working group on the arrangements for implementing the agreements," Araqchi said, reported IRNA News.
However, the Deputy Foreign Minister hinted at some possibilities of talks.
"I cannot say that we are able to conclude our job in this round of negotiations but this is possible; it depends on how much we are able to make progress on key issues and how much the other parties are prepared to make their own difficult decisions," Xinhua reported quoting Araqchi.
"In the last round, we were able to make some meaningful progress in our negotiations but still there are some key issues to be resolved," the Minister said after the JCPOA Joint Commission started the new round of talks.
IRNA news agency further reported that all the parties involved are serious about the process and many of them hoped that this round would be the last one, as there was hope to finalize the talks in this round, the deputy foreign minister stated, although he advised some caution.
Araghchi added that the remaining issues are key ones, though their number has decreased, as progress has been made in the drafting phase in previous rounds of talks.
He refused to set a date for finalization of talks and whether this would be the final round was not certain, because Iran was not going to sacrifice its demands and interests for time.
The senior diplomat underlined that Iran's negotiating team neither was in hurry to wrap up the negotiation process nor would let the talks become erosive.
Iran and other participants of the JCPOA, - China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK, have been negotiating in recent weeks to revive the nuclear deal for the US to rejoin the deal.
The United States which attends the talks indirectly ceased its participation to the JCPOA in 2018, resuming all sanctions against Iran.
The US move was objected by all other participants and the world community and made Iran to reciprocate the resumption of sanctions by reducing its compliance to the deal, as the deal was originally made to ease sanctions in return of some limitations on Iran's nuclear program.