Iran’s top negotiator to the talks between Tehran and the remaining signatories of a 2015 deal says the ball is in the other side’s court to make the negotiations come to a conclusion by taking “serious decisions.”
“Our negotiating partners need to be realistic, avoid intransigence, and heed lessons of past 4yrs,” Ali Baqeri-Kani tweeted on Wednesday.
The United States left the deal in 2018, returning the sanctions that it had lifted. The Austrian capital of Vienna has been hosting eight rounds of talks to examine the potential of removal of the inhumane and illegal sanctions and a US return to the accord.
The Iranian official also said, “After weeks of intensive talks, we are closer than ever to an agreement,” warning, however, that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
His remarks echoed those made earlier by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in which the top diplomat asserted that a final agreement hinged on the other side’s conduct.
“The Iranian side’s initiatives have put an agreement within reach, but the conclusion of a final agreement depends on the Western side’s responsible conduct,” the top diplomat said he had told the European official on Tuesday.
The Western side that is attending the talks includes the UK, France, and Germany, US allies that have been complying closely with Washington’s sanctions against Tehran.
Also on Wednesday, Mohammad Marandi, an advisor to the Iranian negotiating team in Vienna, corroborated Baqeri-Kani’s remarks about the prospect of reaching an agreement, but asserted likewise that there were “some issues,” the resolution of which was tied to the other side’s attitude.
“We are approaching an agreement in Vienna. However, there are some issues remaining that need a US/E3 decision. It’s possible that a deal can be reached within days,” Marandi tweeted.
