Envoys to try again in Vienna for nuke talks

TEHERAN－Iran, the United States and the European Union said on Wednesday they would send senior representatives to Vienna in what appears to be a last-ditch effort to revive nuclear talks.

The EU official who chairs the talks, Enrique Mora, said the negotiations would focus on the most recent draft to restore the agreement, while Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, said he was heading to the Austrian capital "to advance the negotiations".

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi, said on Wednesday that Iran has negotiated "in goodwill" since April 2021 to resume the full implementation of the 2015 deal and blamed the US for the failure to reach an agreement.

"Achieving this objective has been delayed because the United States is yet to decide to give assurances that Iran will enjoy the promised economic benefits in the agreement," he told a high-level conference reviewing the landmark Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at the UN's headquarters in New York.

"When the US makes the right decision," he said, "Iran, in turn, will cease its remedial actions and resume the full implementation of its nuclear-related measures in accordance with the 2015 agreement."

Russia's chief representative at the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, wrote on Twitter that negotiators from Russia, a signatory of the nuclear deal, stands "ready for constructive talks in order to finalize the agreement".

US Special Representative for Iran Rob Malley wrote on Twitter that he was preparing to travel to Vienna for the talks.

The German Foreign Ministry said Berlin would be represented at an "expert level" at the talks in Vienna, adding it supported efforts to fully revive the deal "even if hopes are very small". It again pushed Iran to conclude the deal and said that would mean "giving up maximalist positions in areas beyond" the nuclear agreement.

The prospects for the deal's restoration have darkened in the past few months with major sticking points remaining, including Teheran's demand that Washington provide guarantees that it won't again quit the pact and that it lift sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The US withdrew from the deal in 2018.

The abruptly called Vienna meeting comes after EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell repeatedly pushed to break the deadlock and salvage the deal over recent weeks. He recently wrote in The Financial Times that "the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted".

Agencies Via Xinhua