Vienna Talks: Is an agreement in the offing?

Homa Lezgee
Press TV, Vienna

The 8th round of talks aimed at saving the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the JCPOA, is steadily moving on in Vienna between Iran and the remaining signatories of a 2015 agreement that promised sanctions relief in return for certain caps on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. While European and American diplomats express concerns about the slow pace of the talks, Iran says an agreement is within reach if the US removes sanctions verifiably and gives assurances it will not violate the deal again.

The Iranian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has been in constant meetings with representatives of the three European signatories of the deal, Britain, France and Germany, EU coordinator Enrique Mora as well as the Russians and the Chinese.

Progress has been reported on talks concerning Iran’s nuclear commitments but there are still differences when it comes to the removal of US sanctions and the Iranian demands for verification and guarantees.

Tehran says it wants assurances the US will not withdraw from the agreement again or reimpose sanctions.

Russian lead delegate Mikhail Ulyanov who’s been in frequent meetings with the American team led by Robert Malley, recently tweeted that its time to learn the lessons from the failed maximum pressure policy of the Trump administration.

Iran says although there’s been significant progress on technical matters, differences including those in the area of sanctions lifting require political decisions mainly by the Americans that if made can lead to a durable agreement within a short period of time.

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