Senior diplomats from Iran and five world powers met in Vienna on Friday to flesh out a strategy to save the 2015 nuclear deal by keeping oil and investment flowing after the United States pulled out of the agreement earlier this month.
For the first time since the deal came into force, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany met without the US, according to AFP.
Iran has said it will uphold its side of the deal, which involves curbs on its nuclear program, if the remaining parties uphold theirs by making sure that Iran can keep doing business with the world, despite the revived US sanctions.
EU leaders have united behind the accord, with Brussels working on measures including banning EU-based firms from complying with reimposed US sanctions and urging governments to make money transfers to Iran's central bank to avoid fines. Russia and China have also vowed to maintain trade with Iran.
*** Conclusion Not Yet
Ahead of the talks, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi, who heads the Iranian delegation in Vienna, said, "We have not reached a conclusion as to whether we will stay in the JCPOA or not. It depends on how other signatories will decide to compensate for the consequences of a withdrawal by another party."
The nuclear agreement—which lifted international sanctions on Tehran—is formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Araqchi said the Europeans should provide guarantees to ensure Iran's national interests, ISNA reported.
According to the senior diplomat, a series of discussions were held with European officials in the run-up to the Vienna meeting over sales and trade in various sectors, including oil and gas, auto-making, transport, airlines, banking and insurance.
*** Deadline
Reuters quoted a senior Iranian official as telling reporters on Friday that Tehran wants European powers to present it with measures by the end of May to compensate it for the US abandoning the deal.
"We expect the (economic) package to be given to us by the end of May," the unidentified official said. "I'm sorry to say that we haven't (seen) the Plan B yet. The Plan B has just started to be figured out."
He said European measures would need to ensure that oil exports did not halt and that Iran would still have access to the SWIFT international bank payments messaging system.
*** Unified Position
"We don't have enough time. We expect the (meeting) today to take a unified position against the withdrawal of the United States and compensate for the US absence in the deal," the official said ahead of Friday's talks.
"If not, we would go for a ministerial (meeting) and after that if Iran is still not satisfied, we will take the decision."
Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which polices the accord, briefed participants before the meeting, according to Reuters.
*** IAEA Report
The UN atomic watchdog said on Thursday that Iran continues to comply with the terms of its nuclear deal with world powers despite the US withdrawal, but could be faster and more proactive in allowing snap inspections.
In its first such report since US President Donald Trump announced Washington's pullout on May 8, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran remained within limits on the level to which it can enrich uranium, its stock of enriched uranium and other items.
"The agency...has conducted complementary accesses under the Additional Protocol to all the sites and locations in Iran which it needed to visit," the IAEA said in a confidential report that was sent to member states and obtained by Reuters.
It added, "Timely and proactive cooperation by Iran in providing such access would facilitate implementation of the Additional Protocol and enhance confidence."
Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only and that the country has fulfilled all of its commitments under the deal.
The IAEA has defended the nuclear agreement, saying it created "the world's most robust verification regime".
