Head of Iran’s delegation in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Ali Baqeri Kani, attended a meeting of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Tuesday and briefed lawmakers on the course of negotiations in the Austrian Capital Vienna.
According to the commission’s spokesman, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, the top negotiator described the progress of talks as positive and reiterated Iran’s good faith and seriousness in reaching an agreement, ISNA reported.
The negotiations aim to work out how the United States and Iran can resume full compliance with the nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.
Washington quit the JCPOA in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions that prompted Iran to step away from the nuclear commitments in response.
Vienna talks are in their eighth round and negotiators have taken a break to head back to their home countries for consultations with their respective governments. The process is expected to resume in the coming week.
Meshkini said despite the positive and forward progress of the talks, key issues still remain that need to be negotiated and agreed.
“It is the Islamic Republic’s right to have all the sanctions removed, but so far, the other side has agreed to the lifting of part of the bans,” he told reporters.
“The conditions are ready for a good and win-win agreement, provided that the western countries also show good faith and seriousness,” he added.
Direct Negotiation
Baqeri Kani also stressed that no direct talks has been conducted with US representatives in Vienna, according to the lawmaker.
Iran refuses to discuss matters directly with American officials and contact has been in the form of non-paper communication through the European Union coordinator of the talks, Enrique Mora.
However, there have been recent speculations about such possibility.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had said earlier that communication will continue to be in this manner but Iran would not disregard such option if a good agreement with firm guarantees hinges on some level of direct dialogue with Americans.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani also said later that the current means of contact will be replaced by other methods only if a good agreement is within reach.
Meshkini said “under current circumstances, the fruitfulness and the exact return of direct negotiation with the US are not clear.”
During Baqeri Kani’s meeting with parliamentarians, the Majlis law called “Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Safeguard Interests of Iranian People” was also reviewed once more, according to deputy head of the commission, Abbas Moqtadaei.
“Both sides agreed that the parliamentary law is determining and based on that, safeguarding the Iranian nation’s rights must be given highest attention,” he told ICANA.
The mentioned law was passed by the Majlis in December 2021 and called on the government to take further nuclear steps beyond JCPOA limits as countermeasures, while also curtailing cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency as per the deal.
Western countries have since been expressing concern about Iran’s nuclear escalations, warning about a missing opportunity to restore the JCPOA.
A senior US State Department official said in a special briefing on Monday that given the pace of Iran’s nuclear advances, “we only have a handful of weeks left to get a deal, after which point it will unfortunately be no longer possible to return to the JCPOA and to recapture the nonproliferation benefits that the deal provided for us.”
The official said negotiations are entering the “final stretch”, with all sides having to make tough political decisions.
