Iran Anticipates Resumption of Nuclear Talks by Early November

Iran

October 5th, 6:45am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Iranian workers in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran on Monday, October 4, 2021. (EPA)

Talks between Iran and the global powers seeking to reinstate the 2015 nuclear accord may resume by early November, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday. Talks in Vienna to revive the deal have been stalled since June. “The government of (President) Ebrahim Raisi has been in power for less than 55 days... I don't think that the return to talks will take as much as 90 days,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said. His remarks were made during a press conference in response to a question about what Iranian officials mean by “very soon” when talking about resuming negotiations, AFP reported. "I don't think it will take us the same amount of time as it took the Biden administration to come,", referring to US diplomats under President Joe Biden indirectly joining the Vienna talks. The talks involve Iran and the remaining parties to the deal -- China, Russia, France, the UK and Germany -- but the US has not participated directly. Meanwhile, Germany would reject any Iranian demands for the United States to release frozen Iranian assets as a condition for nuclear talks to resume, the foreign ministry said on Monday. “If new conditions are being set by Iran for talks to be resumed, then we reject that,” a German foreign ministry spokesman said after Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's demand for assets worth 10 billion dollars to be released as a goodwill gesture, Reuters reported.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3227301/iran-anticipates-resumption-nuclear-talks-early-november