Iran to Set Date in 'Weeks' to Return to Nuclear Talks

Iran

October 1st, 4:46am

Asharq Al-Awsat

European External Action Service (EEAS) Deputy Secretary General Enrique Mora and Iranian Deputy at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria April 17, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS

Iran's new government will in the next few weeks decide on a date to return to nuclear talks in Vienna, a spokesman said on Thursday. "I assume that in a few weeks we are in a position to set a date with our friends in Europe," Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a gathering in the French city of Caen. "Then possibly we can start negotiations in Vienna." The analytical work will end "maybe in a few days, less than a few weeks", he said. "We are not going to waste even a minute to get back to Vienna," AFP quoted him as saying. Khatibzadeh had earlier told Le Monde newspaper that the new Iranian administration would return to the talks more quickly than Biden's did. Negotiations had resumed on April 6 in Vienna, 77 days after Joe Biden took office on January 20. However, "it has only been 50 days since the new Iranian government took office", he said. The 2015 nuclear deal with Iran offered to lift sanctions in return for Tehran committing to abandon any ambition to develop nuclear weapons and for a drastic reduction in its atomic program and submission to tighter UN control. But after the unilateral withdrawal of the Americans from the agreement in 2018 under Donald Trump, Tehran has gradually abandoned most of its commitments.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3219856/iran-set-date-weeks-return-nuclear-talks