Progress made at Vienna talks on US-Iran nuclear deal, say diplomats
- Diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain said they need more work and time to bring about a future agreement
- The ultimate goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, something it insists it does not want to do
High-ranking diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain made progress at talks on Saturday focused on bringing the United States back into their landmark nuclear deal with Iran, but said they need more work and time to bring about a future agreement.
After the meeting, Russia’s top representative, Mikhail Ulyanov, tweeted that members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, “noted today the indisputable progress made at the Vienna talks on restoration of the nuclear deal.”
“The Joint Commission will reconvene at the end of the next week,” Ulyanov wrote. “In the meantime, experts will continue to draft elements of future agreement.”
Although we cannot yet fully predict when and how we will be able to reach an agreement, it is moving forward, although slowly
“It’s too early to be excited, but we have reasons for cautious and growing optimism,” he added. “There is no deadline, but participants aim at successful completion of the talks in approximately three weeks.”
The three Western European countries involved in the talks struck a more restrained note.
“We have much work and little time left. Against that background, we would have hoped for more progress this week,” the senior diplomats said talking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to be publicly named.
“We have yet to come to an understanding on the most critical points. Success is by no means guaranteed, but not impossible.”
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, took part in the Vienna talks.
