DUBAI (Reuters) – Talks in Vienna on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers have made “significant progress”, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed said on Monday. Khatibzadeh.

Separately, Iran’s top security official, Ali Shamkhani, said talks with European negotiators were ongoing and would continue as long as negotiations with the United States were not on the agenda as they would not be the source of “any breakthrough”.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington have been held in Vienna since April amid fears over Tehran’s nuclear advances, seen by Western powers as irreversible unless a deal is quickly reached.

While Khatibzadeh said significant progress had been made, he also noted that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” in the Vienna talks. “The remaining issues are the most difficult,” he told a weekly press briefing.

Khatibzadeh said Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, is handling the Vienna talks. He reports directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s highest authority.

Reuters reported last week that a U.S.-Iran deal was taking shape in Vienna after months of indirect talks to revive the nuclear pact, which Washington abandoned in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.

The draft text of the agreement also hinted at other issues, including the release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds from South Korean banks and the release of Western prisoners held in Iran.

Iran is ready to swap prisoners with the United States, Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday, adding that talks to revive the nuclear deal could be completed “as soon as possible” if the United States took steps. necessary political decisions.

Iran’s 2015 deal with major powers limited Iran’s uranium enrichment to make it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear weapons materials, in exchange for lifting international sanctions against Tehran.

Major penalties

In Doha, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday talks in Vienna on reviving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers can only succeed if the United States is prepared to lift sanctions on the Republic. Islamic.

Reuters reported last week that a U.S.-Iran deal was taking shape in Vienna after months of indirect talks to revive a pact that Washington abandoned in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.

“The United States must prove its willingness to lift major sanctions,” Raisi said at a joint press conference with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha.

American Jewish leaders

Meanwhile, Israel is pressuring the United States over the terms of an emerging Iran nuclear deal, Israeli officials said Monday, raising the prospect of a bilateral deal the next day with Washington to address their concerns.

Despite not being a party to nuclear talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna, Israel has spoken to the US administration in hopes of exerting more influence on any relaunch of a deal of 2015 with Tehran which was concluded despite its objections.

“We were unhappy with the deal initially…and of course we are even more unhappy with the (emerging) deal,” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told American Jewish leaders. -Reuters

Posted in Dawn, February 22, 2022