France strikes positive tone on Vienna talks, says deal within reach
France’s foreign minister strikes a positive tone over the ongoing negotiations in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran deal, saying progress has been made in the talks.
In remarks on Friday, Jean-Yves Le Drian said he remains convinced that the parties to the talks can reach a deal.
“We have been heading in a positive direction in the last few days, but time is of the essence, because if we don’t get an accord quickly there will be nothing to negotiate,” Le Drian said.
The remarks came after Iran’s chief negotiator in Vienna talks said the negotiations with the remaining signatories to the Iran deal are “positive and forward-moving.” The deal was unilaterally abandoned by the United States in 2018 three years after it was inked.
Earlier this week, the US also said the negotiations in Vienna had shown modest progress.
The negotiations are taking place between Iran, and the remaining parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), namely Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and the EU.
The eighth round of talks, the first under Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi, resumed on Monday after adding some new Iranian demands to a working text.
In withdrawing from the deal in 2018, the Trump administration reinstated harsh economic sanctions on Iran.
Iran says the US sanctions need to be removed in a verifiable manner. It also says Washington should provide guarantees that it will not pull out again.
'West takes vastly different tone'
Iran’s Nour News, affiliated with the country's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said Friday the positive news emerging from Vienna in recent days shows the positive attitude of the Western parties to the deal is vastly different from their approach in the previous round of the talks.
“The tone of Western negotiators, which in the previous round was more based on pressure and even threats, has changed and softened to a great extent,” the website said, citing sources close to the negotiating team.
The article maintained that the Western side had initially attempted to overwhelm Iran’s new negotiating team and make them passive.
“The ultimate goal of these measures was to weaken the will of the negotiating team in the course of a decisive struggle for the realization of the rights of the nation,” it said.
The article said the Western parties' attempts failed as the Iranian team resisted the pressures, noting that the resistance led to the inclusion of Iran’s new positions in the new text about which the negotiators are holding talks.
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