Iran’s top negotiator to return to Austrian capital as talks for revival of JCPOA enter crucial phase

Bagheri Kani, who flew to Tehran last week for a short stay within the framework of ordinary travels to the capital, will return to Vienna Sunday night to pursue the negotiations “on the basis of a clear agenda with the purpose of settling problems in the way of achieving an agreement,” IRNA reported.

During its last session, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) discussed the outcomes of the latest round of the Vienna talks, stressing the importance of ensuring the Islamic Republic’s legal and rational demands based on the country’s redlines, Nournews, a website close to the council reported on Sunday.

It added that the council has also stressed “the need to quickly resolve the remaining issues that put the negotiations on the border between agreement and dead end,” while emphasizing that the acceptance of any agreement depends on settlement of the outstanding issues.

The United States unilaterally left the historic deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018 and returned the sanctions that had been lifted under the accord. Washington’s European allies in the deal—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—have been toeing the sanctions line closely by ending their trade activities with Iran.

The Vienna talks began last April between Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — on the assumption that the US, under the Joe Biden administration, is willing to repeal the so-called maximum pressure policy pursued by former president, Donald Trump.

Tehran says it won’t settle for anything less than the removal of all US sanctions in a verifiable manner. It also wants guarantees that Washington would not abandon the agreement again.

In a Saturday phone call, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that the Islamic Republic seeks a good agreement through the ongoing talks in the Austrian capital, but is determined not to cross its redlines.

“It is the Islamic Republic’s final decision not to cross its redlines” during the Vienna talks, Iran’s foreign minister emphasized.

Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks came few days after Iran’s lead negotiator said in a tweet that the Vienna talks are near conclusion, cautioning that there is no guarantee negotiators will be able to cross the “finish line” without “certain decisions” by the West.

“Being near the finish line is no guarantee for crossing that. It requires extra caution, much perseverance, additional creativity and a balanced approach to take the last step,” he said, adding, “To finish the job, there are certain decisions that our Western interlocutors need to take.”

‘Iran accepts no deadlines for agreement from any country’

Also on Sunday, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the Islamic Republic accepts no deadlines for the revival of the JCPOA during the ongoing talks in Vienna.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, who was speaking to the IRIB news agency, was reacting to claims by certain Western media outlets that Washington has set a deadline for the achievement of an agreement in the Vienna talks.

“So far, the Islamic Republic of Iran has accepted no deadlines from any country,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Asked about how optimistic he is about Iran clinching an agreement with the opposite side, Khatibzadeh said, “More than talking about optimism or pessimism in our negotiations, we must be realist.”

“At the present time, we are at a point where the Vienna talks need a new political decision by the United States and other Western parties,” he added.

“If the opposite sides respect reasonable and legitimate redlines of the Islamic Republic of Iran and take political decisions, they can be sure that finalizing an agreement will be possible in the shortest possible time.”

Khatibzadeh also stressed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should end its “politically-motivated” claims on the issue of the so-called possible military dimensions (PMD) to Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

“We have answered the agency’s (IAEA) questions or even politically-motivated claims that we think were baseless about our certain measures taken by our country. This dossier should be closed,” he said.

Khatibzadeh added that the so-called PMD should not be used by the IAEA as a political pressure tool against Iran while others should not commit this mistake to use it in order to put the Islamic Republic under pressure.

P4+1 waiting for finalizing agreement on JCPOA restoration: Russia

In a related development on Sunday, head of the Russian negotiating team Mikhail Ulyanov said in a post on his Twitter account that the five remaining parties to the JCPOA are waiting to finalize an agreement with Iran on the deal’s restoration.

He noted that representatives of the P4+1 group of countries held “informal consultations within the framework of the Vienna talks.”https://platform.

“We are waiting for the return of the Iranian chief negotiator Dr. A. Bagheri Kani to Vienna from Tehran to finalize the agreement on restoration of JCPOA,” the senior Russian diplomat tweeted.

The United States is not directly engaged in the process of the Vienna talks because it is no longer a party to the JCPOA.