Tehran. On Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister said talks between Iran and major powers to revitalize the deal on Tehran’s 2015 nuclear program are “close to a good deal”, but that reaching it soon will depend on the other parties.
Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, “The initiatives of the Iranian side and the negotiations that were conducted put us in the right place.”
“We are close to a good agreement, but reaching this good agreement in the short term will depend on the other side,” he said in quotes compiled by the state-run IRNA agency.
Negotiations to restore the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program resumed in November, after being suspended in June when Iran elected a new, ultra-conservative government.
The deal offered Iran the possibility of lifting sanctions choking its economy in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.
But in 2018, then US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw his country from the agreement and reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which weakened the agreement and prompted Tehran to stop complying with its obligations.
Amir Abdollahian stated that the Islamic Republic did not intend to “prolong” the negotiations.
“For us it is important to defend the rights and interests of our country,” he said.
In addition to Iran, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China are directly involved in the negotiations, and the United States does so indirectly.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that negotiations were going “on a fairly positive path” but stressed the need to reach an agreement as soon as possible.
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