The U.S. government spoke on Thursday of “substantial progress” in the Vienna talks aimed at rescuing the international treaty on Iran’s nuclear program, saying a deal could be reached “in the coming days” if Iran “shows that he takes the issue seriously “.
“Substantial progress has been made over the past week,” but “there is no overall agreement because there is no agreement on the smallest detail,” a US diplomat told AFP, without elaborating on the issues. Washington considers it problematic.
“If Iran shows that it is taking the issue seriously, we can and must reach an agreement in the coming days,” he added.
But any delay “far beyond” this deadline “would seriously threaten the possibility of returning to the treaty,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff officially warned – for the ninth time – the representative of the American diplomacy.
Talks in Vienna in recent months have been aimed at reaching an agreement on Tehran returning to full compliance and Washington re-joining it by lifting the sanctions it has re-imposed. The ICC provided for the lifting of international economic sanctions against Iran, in exchange for severe restrictions on the country’s nuclear program, so that in theory at least any possibility of the Islamic Republic acquiring a nuclear arsenal could be ruled out.
Former US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw Washington from the agreement unilaterally and to impose not only previous but also new sanctions has led Iran to begin in May 2019 to abandon compliance with many of the restrictions on its nuclear program. country provided for under the Treaty.
Many experts today estimate that Iran is just a few weeks away from having enough fissile material to develop a nuclear weapon – although there are still many, extremely complex, steps to be taken to make such a weapon.
On Thursday, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called “absurd” the accusations that Tehran is preparing to build a nuclear weapon, reaffirming that Iran’s nuclear program has peaceful purposes.
Incumbent President Joe Biden has said he is ready to re-integrate his country into the agreement, lifting some of US sanctions, provided the Islamic Republic returns to full compliance with its obligations.
This is the stakes of the Vienna talks.
They are taking place between the states that are still parties to the CIS (China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Iran), with the close involvement of the USA – no face-to-face negotiations between the Americans and the Iranians.
France warned Iran on Wednesday that there were only a few “days” left for the CSD to survive and that otherwise there would be a “serious crisis”.
For his part, Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri assured that the envoys are “closer than ever to an agreement.” “But nothing has been agreed until it is agreed,” he added.
He also called on other parties to take “serious decisions”. Washington and Tehran often blame each other when deadlocks arise in negotiations.
The Iranian authorities remind that they want to receive the “guarantee” that the treaty will actually be “implemented”, as the threat of a possible change of power in the USA is being put in question again.
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