“There is a potential agreement that addresses the core concerns of all parties, but if it is not concluded in the coming weeks, continued Iranian nuclear progress will make our return to the Comprehensive Plan of Action (2015 framework agreement) impossible,” a State Department spokesperson said.
Talks are due to resume in Vienna on Tuesday, after negotiators in recent weeks signaled progress in efforts to revive the 2015 accord aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb.
The concerned parties have been negotiating in Vienna since last year with indirect US participation. The talks were suspended at the end of last month and the negotiators returned to their capitals for consultation.
Washington withdrew from the agreement in 2018, three years after its conclusion, re-imposing harsh sanctions on Iran, which responded, about a year later, by gradually retreating from most of its obligations under the agreement.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the proposals that will be presented by “the United States tomorrow in Vienna will determine when we can reach an agreement.”
He added that Tehran’s focus today is on lifting the sanctions that impede the Iranian economy, “but America took a different decision in lifting the sanctions (…) We made remarkable progress in Vienna, especially in the field of guarantees, and today the general framework of the expected agreement has become clear.”
