‘Constructive’: talks to save Iran nuclear deal off to good start
- Representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia meet to salvage nuclear deal abandoned by Trump
- Iran has rejected direct talks with the United States at ‘any level’ until Washington lifts sanctions
Iran, Russia and the United States reacted positively to the opening exchanges in a first day of talks in Vienna aimed at rescuing an international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
US President Joe Biden has said he was ready to reverse the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw from the landmark 2015 agreement, negotiated to ensure that Iran never developed a military nuclear programme.
And after Moscow gave a positive assessment of the opening of the talks earlier Tuesday, Washington’s reaction a little later was also upbeat. Iran too, described the opening talks as constructive.
“I can say that overall, the meeting was constructive,” the head of the Iranian delegation, Abbas Araghchi, said in a video on Iranian broadcaster Irinn.
The United States was not present at those discussions because Iran has refused to meet the US delegation so long as its sanctions against Tehran remain in place. The European Union is acting as an intermediary.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Vienna-based envoy to international organisations, said Tuesday’s meeting between those parties still in the deal – Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany and Russia – had been “successful”.