Need for Perseverance, Creativity, to Clinch Nuclear Agreement

Iran’s top negotiator in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal said taking the last step to reach an agreement requires extra caution, much perseverance, additional creativity and balanced approach. 
“To finish the job, there are certain decisions that our Western interlocutors need to take,” Ali Baqeri Kani said in a tweet. 
Negotiations in the Austrian capital Vienna started in April to restore the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which has been unravelling since the United States pulled out and reimposed tough sanctions, prompting Iran to react by rowing back on its commitments. 
Diplomats say the talks have reached a final stage in their eighth round and hinge on important political decisions at the moment. 
Baqeri Kani noted in his tweet that “being near the finish line is no guarantee to crossing that.” 
He made the remarks as he returned to Tehran for a short stay to hold consultations with the capital while other members of the delegation remained in Vienna to proceed with regular meetings. 
Iran wants an effective and verifiable removal of all US sanctions before reversing its nuclear steps. It also demands guarantees that no future US government would violate the deal again.  
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said a quick and sustainable agreement requires the western parties’ serious determination to make “brave and realistic political decisions” to provide guarantees and ensure Iran’s interests, particularly an evident removal of sanctions.
In a recent phone conversation with his British counterpart Liz Truss, he expressed hope that the European participants would adopt a “realistic approach” and play a constructive and desirable role in reaching an agreement, ISNA reported.  
Iranian top security official Ali Shamkhani said it was possible to achieve “a good agreement” after significant progress in the negotiations, which was chiefly made thanks to Iran’s initiatives. 
However, he added that without western political decision-making to resolve the remaining crucial issues, which are necessary to “balance the accord”, there would be no final stage. 

***Advanced Stage  
The remarks come as some diplomats are anticipating an end to negotiations next week.  
Nuclear talks with Iran will end next week with the outcome still unclear, one of them said on Wednesday.
French chief negotiator Philippe Errera said that “we will continue until we reach an agreement or announce the collapse of negotiations next week.”
He tweeted a photo of the first page of a draft agreement, with the negotiations’ motto “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” emblazoned at the top of the page.
“Familiar sentence on every draft since negotiations started in April. Never has it been more true than today,” he wrote, adding the hashtag “endgame”.
Using the same hashtag, head of the British delegation to the negotiations, Stephani Al-Qaq tweeted, “A few difficult issues remain. Work continues to resolve them.” 
Russia’s representative Mikhail Ulyanov also said JCPOA participants and the US met to “compare notes and discuss the way ahead” at what he called “the final stage” of Vienna Talks.
Nevertheless, he criticized other negotiators for calling this “advanced stage” an “endgame”. 
“Even the most informed sources should refrain from speculations at these very advanced stage of negotiations,” he tweeted. 
Iran has always refused to accept artificial deadlines, saying it would continue the negotiations until its interests are secured. 
Amir-Abdollahian had earlier said Iran is “in a hurry” to reach a good agreement, but within a logical negotiating framework and with a focus on upholding the rights of the Iranian nation. 
“Tehran considers the quality of an agreement alongside the element of time,” he had said.