Iran to Answer UN Nuclear Questions as Deal Talks Near End

VIENNA — 

Iran has agreed to supply answers long sought by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Tehran and the U.N. agency said Saturday, as talks in Vienna over its tattered atomic deal with world powers appear to be coming to an end.

A joint statement by Mohammad Eslami, the head of the civilian Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy, came hours after the two met in Tehran.

It envisions the issue of the discovery of uranium particles at former undeclared sites in the country being wrapped up by June — a move that is separate from the talks over the nuclear deal but could help push them to a conclusion.

But meanwhile, Russia’s foreign minister for the first time linked American sanctions on Moscow over its war on Ukraine to the ongoing Iran nuclear deal talks — adding a new wrinkle to the delicate diplomacy.

Grossi said in Tehran that “it would be difficult to believe or to imagine that such an important return to such a comprehensive agreement like the (nuclear deal) would be possible if the agency and Iran would not be seeing eye to eye on how to resolve these important safeguards issues.” Safeguards in the IAEA’s parlance refer to the agency’s inspections and monitoring of a country’s nuclear program.

Grossi for years has sought for Iran to answer questions about human-made uranium particles found at former undeclared nuclear sites in the country. U.S. intelligence agencies, Western nations and the IAEA have said Iran ran an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran long has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons.

Eslami said the men had reached an “agreement” that would see Iran “presenting documents that would remove the ambiguities about our country.” He did not elaborate on what the documents would discuss.

The later joint statement said that Eslami’s agency will by March 20 give the U.N. nuclear watchdog “written explanations including related supporting documents to the questions raised by the IAEA which have not been addressed by Iran on the issues related to three locations.”

Within two weeks, it said, the IAEA will review that information and submit any questions, and within a week of that the two agencies will meet in Tehran to address the questions.

Grossi will then aim to report his conclusions by the time the IAEA board of governors meets in June.

The nuclear deal saw Iran agree to drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crushing economic sanctions. But a 2018 decision by then-President Donald Trump to unilaterally withdraw America from the agreement sparked years of tensions and attacks across the wider Middle East.

International Atomic Energy Organization, IAEA, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, left, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian shake hands prior to their meeting in Tehran, March 5, 2022.

Today, Tehran enriches uranium up to 60% purity — its highest level ever and a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90% and far greater than the nuclear deal’s 3.67% cap. Its stockpile of enriched uranium also continues to grow, worrying nuclear nonproliferation experts that Iran could be closer to the threshold of having enough material for an atomic weapon if it chose to pursue one.

Undeclared sites played into the initial 2015 deal as well. That year the IAEA’s then-director-general also came to Tehran and visited a suspected weapons-program site at Parchin. Inspectors also took samples there for analysis.

Grossi’s inspectors also face challenges in monitoring Iran’s current advances in its civilian program. Iran has held IAEA surveillance camera recordings since February 2021, not letting inspectors view them amid the nuclear negotiations.

In Vienna, negotiators appear to be signaling a deal is near — even as Russia’s war on Ukraine rages on. Russia’s ambassador there, Mikhail Ulyanov, has been a key mediator in the talks and tweeted Thursday that negotiations were “almost over.” That was something also acknowledged by French negotiator Philippe Errera.

“We hope to come back quickly to conclude because we are very, very close to an agreement,” Errera wrote Friday on Twitter. “But nothing is agreed until EVERYTHING is agreed!”

British negotiator Stephanie Al-Qaq simply wrote: “We are close.”

But comments Saturday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the first time offered the suggestion that the Ukraine war — and the stinging sanctions that Americans and others have put on Moscow — could interfere.

“We need guarantees these sanctions will in no way affect the trading, economic and investment relations contained in the (deal) for the Iranian nuclear program,” Lavrov said, according to the Tass news agency.

Lavrov said he wanted “guarantees at least at the level of the secretary of state” that the U.S. sanctions would not affect Moscow’s relationship with Tehran. There was no immediate American response to Lavrov’s comments.

Meanwhile on Saturday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard unveiled what it described as two new underground missile and drone bases in the country. State TV said the bases contained surface-to-surface missiles and armed drones capable of “hiding themselves from enemy radar.”

Russia's Demand for US Guarantees May Harm Nuclear Talks

Tehran — 

Russia’s demand for written U.S. guarantees that sanctions on Moscow would not damage Russian cooperation with Iran is “not constructive” for talks between Tehran and global powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal, a senior Iranian official told Reuters Saturday.

The announcement by Russia, which could torpedo months of intensive indirect talks between Tehran and Washington in Vienna, came shortly after Tehran said it had agreed a roadmap with the U.N. nuclear watchdog to resolve outstanding issues which could help secure the nuclear pact.

“Russians had put this demand on the table [at the Vienna talks] since two days ago. There is an understanding that by changing its position in Vienna talks Russia wants to secure its interests in other places. This move is not constructive for Vienna nuclear talks,” said the Iranian official in Tehran.

Demanding written U.S. guarantees that Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine would not damage its cooperation with Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the limitations had become a stumbling block for the Iran nuclear deal, warning the West that Russian national interests would have to be taken into account.

Lavrov said the sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine had created a “problem” from Moscow’s perspective. When asked whether Russia’s demand would harm 11 months of talks between Tehran and world powers, including Russia, Iran Project Director at International Crisis Group, Ali Vaez said: “Not yet. But it’s impossible to segregate the two crises for much longer.”

“The U.S. can issue waivers for the work related to the transfer of excess fissile material to Russia. But it’s a sign that the commingling of the two issues has started,” Vaez said.

All parties involved in Vienna talks said Friday they were close to reaching an agreement. “We have agreed to provide the IAEA by the end of [the Iranian month of] Khordad [June 21] with documents related to outstanding questions between Tehran and the agency,” Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami told a joint news conference with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi.

Grossi arrived in Tehran late Friday to discuss one of the last thorny issues blocking revival of the pact, which in return for a lifting of economic sanctions limited Iran’s enrichment of uranium, making it harder for Tehran to develop material for nuclear weapons.

“It is important to have this understanding … to work together, to work very intensively,” Grossi told the televised news conference. “Without resolving these [outstanding] issues, efforts to revive the JCPOA may not be possible.”

A major sticking point in the talks is that Tehran wants the question of uranium traces found at several old but undeclared sites in Iran to be closed. Western powers say that is a separate matter to the deal, which the IAEA is not a party to, several officials have told Reuters.

Grossi, who also held talks with Iran’s foreign minister before returning to Vienna on Saturday, said that “there are still matters that need to be addressed by Iran.”

The IAEA has been seeking answers from Iran on how the uranium traces got there – a topic often referred to as “outstanding safeguards issues.”

Grossi’s trip has raised hopes that an agreement with the IAEA will potentially clear the way for revival of the nuclear pact that was abandoned in 2018 by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who also reimposed far-reaching sanctions on Iran.

Since 2019, Tehran has breached the deal’s nuclear limits and gone well beyond, rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output. Iran denies it has ever sought to acquire nuclear weapons.

UN Nuclear Watchdog Chief Arrives in Tehran as UK Says Deal 'Close'

Tehran — 

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s chief arrived Friday in Tehran amid hopes of reviving a 2015 accord between Iran and world powers, with Britain saying a deal was “close.”

The visit by International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi, who was set to meet Iranian officials Saturday, is seen as critical to clinching agreement over a return to the nuclear deal and comes in parallel to negotiations in the Austrian capital to salvage the accord.

Grossi “was received on arrival in Tehran by Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran,” the Iranian body said in a statement on its website. He is to meet with its chief Saturday.

“This is a critical time but a positive outcome for everyone is possible,” Grossi wrote on Twitter earlier Friday.

The next few days are widely seen as a crunch point for the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program — the latest round of which started in late November in Vienna.

“We are close. E3 negotiators [are] leaving Vienna briefly to update ministers on [the] state of play,” the head of the British delegation, Stephanie Al-Qaq, said Friday, referring to negotiators from Britain, France and Germany.

She added that they were “ready to return soon.”

Along with counterparts from China, Iran and Russia, they have been taking part in the latest round of talks in the Austrian capital since late November, with the U.S. participating indirectly.

Grossi had vowed earlier this week that the IAEA would “never abandon” its attempts to get Iran to clarify the past presence of nuclear material at several undeclared sites.

Iran has said the closure of the probe is necessary to clinch a deal on the nuclear accord.

Grossi is expected to hold a news conference on his return to Vienna.

Ready to go to Vienna

The EU has been chairing the nuclear deal talks, and the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Friday that he hoped “to have results this weekend,” while stressing that there was “still work ongoing.”

The 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was aimed at guaranteeing that Iran’s nuclear program could not be used to develop a nuclear weapon — something Tehran has always denied wanting to do.

It began unravelling when then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to start disregarding the limits on its nuclear activity laid down in the agreement.

Earlier Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he was prepared to travel to the Austrian capital if a deal was reached.

“I am ready to go to Vienna when the Western sides accept our remaining red lines,” he said in a phone call with Borrell, quoted in a foreign ministry statement.

While Amir-Abdollahian did not define the “red lines,” Iran has repeatedly demanded the right to verify the removal of sanctions and for guarantees the U.S. will not repeat its withdrawal from the agreement.

On Thursday, U.S. State Department deputy press spokeswoman Jalina Porter said negotiators were “close to a possible deal,” but that “a number of difficult issues” remained unresolved.

However, “if Iran shows seriousness, we can and should reach an understanding of mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA within days,” she added.

UN Nuclear Watchdog Warns Iran's Uranium Stockpile Beyond Limits of 2015 Deal

The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned Thursday that Iran had increased its stockpile of uranium well beyond the limits established in the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, inching it closer to being capable of building a nuclear weapon.

In a confidential quarterly report to member nations, the IAEA said Iran has an estimated 33.2 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, an increase of 15.5 kilograms since November.

Such highly enriched uranium can be easily refined to make nuclear weapons. According to The Associated Press, the 33.2-kilogram figure brings Iran closer to having enough weapons-grade uranium to produce such a weapon.

The IAEA report estimates that as of February 19, Iran’s stockpile of all enriched uranium was roughly 3.2 metric tons, an increase of 707.4 kilograms.

The report comes as senior diplomats from the original signatories of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, have been meeting in Vienna with Iranian officials since November, trying to reinstate the agreement.

The head of the IAEA, Director-General Rafael Grossi said he will travel to Vienna Saturday “for meetings with senior Iranian officials,” the IAEA said Thursday.

The IAEA said these latest uranium figures, which could not be fully verified because of limits placed on the agency by Iran, indicate that time may be running out for the negotiators.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

Satellite Photos Show Another Failed Iran Space Launch

Iran likely suffered another failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket in recent days, even as Tehran faces last-minute negotiations with world powers to save its tattered nuclear deal in Vienna.

Satellite images from Maxar Technologies seen by The Associated Press show scorch marks at a launch pad at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s rural Semnan province on Sunday. A rocket stand on the pad appears scorched and damaged, with vehicles surrounding it. An object, possibly part of the gantry, sits near it.

Successful launches typically don’t damage rocket gantries because they are lowered before takeoff. Iran also usually trumpets launches that reach space on its state-run television channels, but it has a history of not acknowledging failed attempts.

Separate images from Planet Labs PBC suggest the attempted launch likely occurred sometime after Friday. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. military.

The rocket involved appears to have been Iran’s Zuljanah satellite launch vehicle, said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who first noticed the attempted launch with colleagues.

It remains unclear what could have caused the blast. The first two stages of a Zuljanah are solid fuel, but its final stage is liquid and would have needed to be fueled on the launch pad, Lewis said.

“This just looks like it got interrupted, like something exploded,” Lewis told the AP.

Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The program has seen recent troubles, however. There have been five failed launches in a row for the Simorgh program, another satellite-carrying rocket. A separate fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 also killed three researchers, authorities said at the time.

The successive failures raised suspicion of outside interference in Iran’s program. There’s been no evidence offered, however, to show foul play in any of the failures, and space launches remain challenging even for the world’s most successful programs.

Meanwhile, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in April 2020 revealed its own secret space program by successfully launching a satellite into orbit. The head of the U.S. Space Command later dismissed the satellite as “a tumbling webcam in space” that wouldn’t provide Iran vital intelligence — though it showed Tehran’s ability to successfully get into orbit.

This launch, however, comes as Western diplomats warn time is ticking down to restore Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, setting the stage for years of tensions and mysterious attacks across the wider Mideast.

The U.S. has alleged such satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Iran, which long has said it does not seek nuclear weapons, previously maintained that its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component. U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran abandoned an organized military nuclear program in 2003.

Today, Tehran enriches uranium up to 60% purity — a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90% and far greater than the nuclear deal’s 3.67% cap. Its stockpile of enriched uranium also continues to grow and international inspectors face challenges in monitoring its advances.

While Iran’s former President Hassan Rouhani dialed back the country’s space program for fears of alienating the West, new hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has focused on jumpstarting the program. Iran has a series of satellites it plans to launch, and Iran’s Supreme Council of Space recently met for the first time in 11 years.

Iran Studying Draft Deal to Restore Nuclear Agreement

TEHRAN, IRAN — 

Iran is studying a rough draft of a deal to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement with major powers hammered out during talks in Vienna, its foreign minister said Saturday.

All sides have said the talks on bringing the United States back into the agreement after then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 walkout have reached a critical stage, and Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri has been back in Tehran for consultations.

Iran is “seriously reviewing [the] draft of the agreement,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter, adding he had spoken by phone with the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrel.

The EU has been acting as an intermediary between Iranian negotiators and a U.S. delegation in the absence of U.S. participation in face-to-face talks between Tehran and the remaining parties to the 2015 agreement.

We are “all trying to reach a good deal,” Amir-Abdollahian added. “Our red lines are made clear to western parties. Ready to immediately conclude a good deal, should they show real will.”

The 2015 agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, provided Iran with relief from sanctions in return for strict limits to its nuclear activities.

Since Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018, Iran has gradually suspended its compliance with many of the restrictions it agreed to under the deal, something that it is now expected to reverse.

Amir-Abdollahian said Wednesday the talks had reached “a critical and important stage.”

He said he hoped the remaining “sensitive and important issues” would be resolved in the coming days “with realism from the Western side.”

Iran Nuclear Chief Says Country Will Enrich Uranium to 20% Even After Nuclear Deal

Dubai — 

Iran will continue to enrich uranium to 20% purity even after sanctions on it are lifted and a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers is revived, Iranian news agencies quoted the country’s nuclear chief as saying on Friday.

“(Uranium) enrichment … continues with a maximum ceiling of 60%, which led Westerners to rush to negotiations, and it will continue with the lifting of sanctions by both 20% and 5%,” the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, was quoted by the semi-official news agency Fars as saying.

The 2015 deal restricts the purity to which Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67%, far below the roughly 90% that is weapons-grade or the 20% Iran reached before the deal. Iran is now enriching to various levels, the highest being around 60%.

Eslami did not elaborate or explain how 20% enrichment would be acceptable under the 2015 nuclear deal which Iran has been trying to revive through indirect talks with the United States.

Iranian officials had told Reuters earlier that Iran had agreed to suspend its 20% and 60% enrichment if an agreement is reached in the Vienna talks to salvage the 2015 pact.

Separately, a senior Iranian cleric said earlier that ending Iran’s economic isolation by lifting banking and oil trade sanctions was Tehran’s most important demand in talks with world powers in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Iran on Wednesday urged the West to be “realistic” in the talks, as its top negotiator returned to Tehran for what might be final consultations ahead of a possible accord following months of indirect talks with the United States.

“Our negotiators… do their best to ensure the nation’s interests, and know that the final point is the lifting of all sanctions, especially on banking and trade,” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said at Friday prayers in Tehran.

“If these sanctions are not lifted, it is as if there were no talks,” state media quoted him as saying.

The general content of sermons delivered at Friday prayers is set by the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on Iran’s nuclear policy and all other matters of state.

After 10 months of talks in Vienna, progress has been made toward the restoration of the pact to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but both Tehran and Washington have cautioned that still there are some significant differences to overcome.

A majority of Iran’s hardline-led parliament demanded in a letter last week that the United States should guarantee that they would not abandon a restored agreement. The assembly has not voted on the letter.

A senior Iranian official has told Reuters that Iran has shown flexibility by agreeing to “inherent guarantees” that the U.S. administration will not quit an agreement, as Washington says it is impossible for President Joe Biden to provide the legal assurances Iran has demanded.

Iran insists on the immediate removal of all sanctions imposed under former U.S. President Donald Trump in a verifiable process, including those imposed under terrorism or human rights measures.

Iran Appears Ready to Swap Prisoners with US as Talks Approach 'Finish Line'

Talks on restoring a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program and ease sanctions are near conclusion, a Russian envoy said on Tuesday, and sources close to the negotiations said a prisoner swap between Iran and the United States is expected soon.

“Apparently the negotiations on restoration of #JCPOA are about to cross the finish line,” Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter, using the 2015 agreement’s full name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Read full story.

Reuters reported last week that a U.S.-Iranian deal was taking shape in Vienna after months of talks between Tehran and major powers to revive the nuclear deal pact, abandoned in 2018 by then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who also reimposed extensive sanctions on Iran. Read full story.

A draft text of the agreement alluded only vaguely to other issues, diplomats said, adding that what was meant by that was unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian funds in South Korean banks, and the release of Western prisoners held in Iran.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the Islamic Republic was ready for an immediate prisoner exchange with the United States.

“Iran has always and repeatedly expressed its readiness to exchange prisoners. Months ago we were ready to do it but the Americans ruined the deal,” a senior Iranian official in Tehran told Reuters, without elaborating.

“Now I believe some of them will be released, maybe five or six of them. But those talks about prisoners are not linked to the nuclear agreement, rather associated with it. This is a humanitarian measure by Iran.”

U.S. negotiator Robert Malley has suggested that securing the nuclear pact is unlikely unless Tehran frees four U.S. citizens, including Iranian-American father and son Baquer and Siamak Namazi, that Washington says Tehran is holding hostage.

“Six years ago the Iranian government arrested Baquer Namazi and they still refuse to let him leave the country,” Malley tweeted on Tuesday. “The Iranian government can and must release the Namazis, Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and other unjustly held U.S. and foreign nationals.”

Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage. However, in recent years, the elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on espionage and security-related charges.

Britain has been seeking the release of British-Iranians Anousheh Ashouri, jailed on espionage charges, and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation who was convicted of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. L8N2UW3FH

Tehran has sought the release of over a dozen Iranians in the United States, including seven Iranian-American dual nationals, two Iranians with permanent U.S. residency and four Iranian citizens with no legal status in the United States.

Most were jailed for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

In the latest comments on the final phase of 10 months of nuclear negotiations, the talks’ coordinator, Enrique Mora, tweeted that “key issues need to be fixed” but the end was near.

Several Iranian officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said some minor technical issues were being discussed in Vienna and that a deal was expected before the end of the week, though adding that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

Separately, hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told gas exporter countries on Tuesday to avoid any “cruel” sanctions imposed by the United States on Tehran.

“The members of this forum should not recognize those sanctions…(because) in today’s world we see that the sanctions are not going to be effective,” Raisi told a gas exporters conference in Doha.

The 2015 deal between Iran and world powers limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium to make it harder for it to develop material for nuclear weapons, if it chose to, in return for a lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.

Since 2019, following the U.S. withdrawal from the deal, Tehran has gone well beyond its limits, rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.

Iranian Fighter Jet Crashes, Three Killed: State TV

TEHRAN, IRAN — An Iranian fighter jet crashed Monday in a residential area of the northwestern city of Tabriz killing three people, including two crew, state television reported.

The head of the local Red Crescent organization said the plane smashed into a school and that one of the dead was a resident of the neighborhood.

Local official Mohammad-Bagher Honarvar told state television that the school was closed at the time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A handout picture provided by the news agency TASNIM on February 21, 2022 shows firefighters putting out a blaze at the crash site of a fighter jet in a residential area of the northwestern city of Tabriz.

He identified the plane as a F-5 fighter aircraft and said it went down at around 9:00 a.m. (0530 GMT) in the central Tabriz neighborhood of Monajem.

An investigation is underway, the state broadcaster said.

The official news agency IRNA posted on its website video footage showing firefighters putting out a blaze at the crash site.

A handout picture provided by the news agency TASNIM on February 21, 2022 shows residents gathering at the crash site of a fighter jet in a residential area of the northwestern city of Tabriz.

Iran’s air force has mostly Russian MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets that date back to the Soviet era, as well as some Chinese aircraft.

Some American F-4 and F-5 fighter jets dating back to before the 1979 Islamic revolution are also part of its air fleet.

Iran Lawmakers Want Guarantees that West Won't Exit Any Revived Nuclear Deal

Iranian lawmakers have urged President Ebrahim Raisi to obtain guarantees from the United States and three European countries that they won’t exit the nuclear deal being renegotiated in Vienna, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.

In a letter to Raisi, they stated that the United States and European parties to the nuclear deal — Britain, France, and Germany — should also guarantee that they would not trigger the “snapback mechanism” under which sanctions on Iran would be immediately reinstated if it violates nuclear compliance.

“We have to learn a lesson from past experiences and put a red line on the national interest by not committing to any agreement without obtaining necessary guarantees first,” lawmakers said in the letter.

The statement was signed by 250 out of 290 Iranian parliamentarians.

It comes as negotiators from Iran and the remaining parties to the agreement — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China — are working to revive a 2015 deal, which granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

The United States has participated indirectly in the talks because it withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden has signaled that he wants to rejoin the agreement.

Iran’s lawmakers also made it a condition that a return to the deal should only go ahead if all sanctions on Iran are lifted.

They also first want to confirm that Iran receives money from its exports, before Tehran returns to nuclear compliance, the letter said.

On February 19, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the talks in Vienna have come a long way over the past 10 months and that “all elements for a conclusion of the negotiations are on the table.”

But he also criticized Iran for continuing enrichment while suspending monitoring by the UN nuclear agency.

On the same day, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that it’s up to Western countries to show flexibility and “the ball is now in their court.” He said Iran was “ready to achieve a good deal.”

Information from AP and AFP was used in this report.

Germany's Scholz Says Now is 'Moment of Truth' for Iran Deal

MUNICH — 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday that “now is the moment of truth” to determine whether Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers can be salvaged, and the Iranian leadership needs to make a choice.

Iran’s foreign minister, though, said that it’s up to Western countries to show flexibility and “the ball is now in their court.”

Negotiators from Iran and the remaining parties to the agreement — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — are working in Vienna to restore life to the accord, which granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

The United States has participated indirectly in the talks because it withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden has signaled that he wants to rejoin the deal.

Under Trump, the U.S. reimposed heavy sanctions on Iran. Tehran has responded by increasing the purity and amounts of uranium it enriches and stockpiles, in breach of the accord — formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Scholz told participants at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday that Iran nuclear talks have come a long way over the past 10 months and “all elements for a conclusion of the negotiations are on the table.” But he also criticized Iran for stepping up its enrichment and restricting inspections by monitors from the U.N. nuclear agency.

“We now have the opportunity to reach an agreement that makes it possible for sanctions to be lifted,” Scholz said. “At the same time, it’s the case that if we don’t succeed very quickly in this, the negotiations threaten to fail.”

“The Iranian leadership now has a choice,” the chancellor said. “Now is the moment of truth.”

Speaking a few hours later at the same Munich conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that “we are ready to achieve a good deal at the earliest possible time — if the other side makes the needed political decision.”

Amirabdollahian insisted that “we are in a hurry” to reach a deal. But he made clear that the issue of guarantees from the U.S. about a restored deal’s future remains a sticking point.

“We have never been this close to a deal,” he said. “It is the Western side that has to present its initiatives and show flexibility … they have not shown any flexibility so far.”

Iran so far has declined to talk directly to the United States. The foreign minister suggested that direct talks would only make sense if the U.S. lifts some sanctions or releases some Iranian assets frozen in foreign banks.

Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. But the country’s steps away from its obligations under the 2015 accord have alarmed its archenemy Israel and world powers.

Tehran has since started enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short technical step from the 90% needed to make an atomic bomb, and spinning far more advanced centrifuges than those permitted under the deal.

BBC Calls Out Iran for Escalation in Threats to Staff

Iran has ramped up its threats and harassment of journalists working for the BBC’s Persian language service and their families, the British broadcaster says.

In a complaint filed with the United Nations this month, the BBC called on the U.N. and the international community to “condemn Iran for their unacceptable treatment” of its staff.

The complaint cited “extra-territorial threats” against the journalists in Britain and third countries; harassment of family members in Iran; financial pressures on the journalists and their families; and “increased intelligence and counter-intelligence activity aimed at undermining the professional reputation of BBC News Persian and its journalists.”

The problem has been going on for years, said Kasra Naji, BBC Persian special correspondent in London. But he said the threats have recently gotten worse.

“There has been an escalation,” Naji told VOA News. Over the span of six weeks, Iran’s intelligence agency called in several family members of BBC Persian personnel for questioning.

“They told our parents and brothers and sisters that we in London could be the target of kidnapping, or even killing, if we didn’t stop working for the BBC,” Naji said. “They also suggested that we could be kidnapped and renditioned to Iran.”

The agents cited the case of Ruhollah Zam as an example of what would happen if they didn’t comply, Naji said.

Zam, who founded an anti-government news website and Telegram channel while in exile in Paris, was lured to Iraq in 2019, where he had been promised an exclusive interview with a prominent cleric.

Instead, he was forcibly returned to Iran where the Revolutionary Court convicted him of “corruption on Earth” and executed him in December 2020.

In a joint statement, human rights lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher and Jennifer Robinson, counsel for the BBC World Service, said, “We know from Iran’s past actions that it is willing to take cross-border and deadly action to silence its critics, and that it perceives independent journalism about Iran as a risk to their power.”

Naji says the threats don’t appear to be linked to any particular story and haven’t impacted BBC Persian reporting.

Special Correspondent for BBC Persian TV, Kasra Naji attends a press conference on March 12, 2018 in Geneva.

“We have to report the stories. We have to report the news. We have to say what is happening,” Naji said. “And perhaps that’s the reason why the Iranian government keeps attacking us, because obviously they feel they haven’t managed to have an impact.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

February’s complaint is the third filed against Iran by the BBC in the past five years, Naji said.

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights did not return VOA’s requests for comment.

In response to an earlier complaint, U.N. experts in 2020 demanded that Iran end the harassment and called on member states to ensure the safety of journalists.

Legacy of threats

Amir Soltani, activist and author of Zahra’s Paradise, a graphic novel about protests over the 2009 contested elections in Iran, says the Iranian intelligence agency has been targeting individuals since the 1979 revolution.

“From the beginning, many Iranian writers and dissidents were abducted by the Intelligence Ministry and killed,” Soltani told VOA. “Many people disappeared and then their bodies were found in various states of mutilation. This was a campaign of fear and terror against intellectuals, against writers, against dissidents, and quite naturally against journalists.”

The tactics have continued over the past 40 years and are aimed at silencing anyone who speaks critically of the Iranian regime, he said. But while previous attacks were conducted secretly, they have become much more brazen, Soltani said.

Tehran’s repressive media environment means that many journalists work in exile. But living outside of Iran is no guarantee of security.

Transnational repression, in which governments reach across borders to coerce, intimidate, and sometimes harm or even kill citizens, is becoming a widely used tactic by authoritarian regimes, groups including Freedom House have said.

Last year, VOA Persian host and outspoken government critic Masih Alinejad was the target of a kidnapping attempt from her home in New York.

Four Iranians, believed to be intelligence operatives, were charged with conspiracy to abduct Alinejad with the intent of forcibly bringing her to Iran, ostensibly for speaking out about human rights violations.

In 2020, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said at least 200 Iranian journalists living outside of the country had been harassed, including 50 who had received death threats.

BBC Persian staff and their families have endured years of harassment.

In 2012, agents detained several relatives and tried to coerce them into persuading the journalists to either stop working for the BBC or to act as intelligence agents, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Other family members had their passports revoked, preventing them from leaving the country.

And in 2017, Iran charged 152 BBC Persian staff members, including Naji, with “conspiracy against national security.”

The court order, which is still in effect, froze all of their assets and has affected an estimated 600-700 family members, Naji said. The freeze prevents them from selling or dividing properties.

“Some of us think that our parents and our brothers and sisters are effectively hostages in Iran,” Naji told VOA.

Travel bans and sanctions on bank accounts are all too familiar, said Soltani, a U.S.-based human rights activist who left Iran in 1980. These issues have affected many members of society, not just journalists and their family members, he said.

“If you can attack an institution like the BBC, at that level, with impunity and not give a damn about what the repercussions can be, can you imagine what lone journalists and dissidents in Iran are facing?” Soltani asked.

As the BBC calls on the U.N. to condemn Iran for the latest threats, its journalists say they will not be silenced.

“We have all agreed, all of us here at the BBC,” Naji said, “that we have to shout from the rooftops so that everyone knows about this, particularly the Iranian government, that if they touch us, if they take action against us, there will be a cost attached.”

Reporter bio: Carmela Caruso is a freelance reporter based in Asheville, North Carolina, who specializes in press freedom and human rights. She is a student at Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has appeared in VOA and The Mountain Xpress. Follow @CarmelaMCaruso

Iran Supreme Leader Urges Nuclear Energy Progress Amid Talks

TEHRAN, Iran — 

Iran’s supreme leader vowed Thursday that his country would ramp up development of its civilian nuclear program, as major world powers continued delicate talks in Vienna to revive Tehran’s landmark nuclear deal.

In a televised speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the importance of nuclear energy for Iran, while again asserting that it had no interest in nuclear weapons.

Khamenei’s remarks seemed clearly aimed at the countries involved in the Vienna talks.

“Enemies are making cruel moves against our nuclear energy issue, [putting] sanctions on nuclear energy that they know is peaceful,” he said. “They do not want Iran to achieve this great and significant progress.”

The accord, which former President Donald Trump abandoned nearly four years ago, granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, tweeted late Wednesday that the parties were “closer than ever” to an agreement.

But talks have repeatedly stalled in recent months as Iranian negotiators press hard-line demands, exasperating Western diplomats.

Khamenei, who so far has largely stayed silent on the negotiations, called claims that Iran was pursuing a bomb “nonsense,” saying they were meant to deprive Iran of its legitimate right to nuclear power.

“If we do not pursue [peaceful nuclear energy] today, tomorrow will be late,” he said.

Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. But the country’s steps away from its obligations under the 2015 accord have alarmed its archenemy Israel and world powers.

Tehran has since started enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short technical step from the 90% needed to make a bomb — and spinning far more advanced centrifuges than those permitted under the deal.

Decision on Iran Nuclear Deal Days Away; Ball in Tehran's court

France on Wednesday said a decision on salvaging Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was just days away and that it was now up to Tehran to make the political choice.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the tattered agreement resumed last week after a 10-day hiatus and officials from the other parties to the accord – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – have shuttled between the two sides as they seek to close gaps.

Western diplomats previously indicated they hoped to have a breakthrough by now, but tough issues remain unresolved. Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers.

“We have reached tipping point now. It’s not a matter of weeks, it’s a matter of days,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament, adding that the Western powers, Russia and China were in accord on the outlines of the accord.
“Political decisions are needed from the Iranians. Either they trigger a serious crisis in the coming days, or they accept the agreement which respects the interests of all parties.”

Several other sources tracking the talks said that the next couple of days would be crucial in determining whether there was a way to revive the agreement.

The agreement began to unravel in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States and reimposed broad economic sanctions on Iran, which then began breaching the deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment activity a year later.

Diplomats and analysts say the longer Iran remains outside the deal, the more nuclear expertise it will gain, shortening the time it might need to race to build a bomb if it chose to, thereby vitiating the accord’s original purpose. Tehran denies it has ever sought to develop nuclear arms.

Western diplomats say they are now in the final phase of the talks and believe that a deal is within reach.

‘Moment of Truth’

“We are coming to the moment of truth. If we want Iran to respect its (nuclear) non-proliferation commitments and in exchange for the United States to lift sanctions, there has to be something left to do it,” Le Drian said.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday it was “in a hurry” to strike a new deal as long as its national interests were protected and that restoring the pact required “political decisions by the West.”

Ali Shamkhani, hardline secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, underlined Iranian wariness by saying on Wednesday that the 2015 accord had become economically worthless for Iran and he blamed the United States and European powers.

“The United States and Europe failed to meet their obligations under the (deal). The deal has now become an empty shell for Iran in the economic sphere and the lifting of sanctions. There will be no negotiations beyond the nuclear deal with a non-compliant America and a passive Europe,” he tweeted.

China’s envoy to the talks said on Wednesday Iran was being constructive by putting everything on the table in response to U.S. approaches. “They have not only adopted this straightforward approach but also made a political decision based on give and take,” Wang Qun told Reuters.

Bones of contention remain Iran’s demand for a U.S. guarantee of no more sanctions or other punitive steps in future, and how and when to restore verifiable restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear activity.

The agreement curbed Iran’s enrichment of uranium to make it harder for Tehran to develop material for nuclear weapons, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.

The Islamic Republic has since rebuilt stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity, close to weapons-grade, and installed advanced centrifuges to speed up enrichment.

Foreign Minister Says Iran Eager to Revive Nuclear Deal if Interests Secured

Iran is “in a hurry” to strike a new nuclear accord as long as its national interests are protected, its foreign minister said on Monday as Tehran and the United States resumed indirect talks on salvaging Tehran’s 2015 agreement with world powers.

The talks, with European intermediaries shuttling between the two, have been held in Vienna since April amid growing Western fears about Tehran’s accelerating nuclear advances, seen by Western powers as irreversible unless a deal is struck soon.

The 2015 deal limited Iran’s enrichment of uranium to make it harder for Tehran to develop material for nuclear weapons, in return for a lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.

But it has eroded since 2018 when then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States and reimposed far-reaching sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic has since breached the deal’s limits and gone well beyond, rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.

“Iran is in a hurry to reach agreement in Vienna…, but this should be within the framework of our national interest,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference in Tehran.

He urged Western powers to stop “playing with time.”

Western leaders say time is running out for a viable accord and have accusing Iran of stalling to increase its leverage.

Parties involved in the talks, which resumed last week after a 10-day break, have voiced hope about restoring the pact despite what Tehran has said are “key outstanding issues that require political decisions by the West.”

“Talks are not at a dead end…Iran has already taken its political decision by staying in the deal despite the U.S. withdrawal,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Remaining gaps

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that “some 30% of difficult issues remain to be resolved but it is possible to reach a deal by early March.” A Western diplomat said “reaching a deal is possible around early March, if all goes well.”

After eight rounds of talks, key bones of contention include Iran’s demand for a U.S. guarantee of no more sanctions or other punitive steps in future, and how and when to restore verifiable restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity.

A second Iranian official said Tehran was also insisting on being able to seal and store its advanced centrifuges inside Iran, rather than dismantling and sending them abroad, as Western powers have called for.

He said Iran further wants the removal of some 300 extra sanctions on Iranian entities and individuals not related to the nuclear deal.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has said it will remove curbs inconsistent with the 2015 pact if Iran resumes compliance with it, implying Washington would leave in place sanctions imposed under terrorism or human rights measures.

U.S. officials have said the Biden administration cannot guarantee that a U.S. government would never renege on the agreement because it is classified as a non-binding political understanding, not a legally binding treaty.

Erdogan Visits UAE in Bid to Repair Ties with Arab World

Istanbul — 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is visiting the United Arab Emirates, hoping to repair strained ties. Analysts say shared concerns over Iran could provide common ground.

Erdogan said that his two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, which began Monday, aims to ease years of tension and rivalry with the Persian Gulf state.

He said that with the visit, Turkey aims to develop the momentum it has achieved and to take the necessary steps to bring relations back to the level, he said, they deserve.

Turkey has found itself increasingly isolated across the Middle East, due largely to Ankara’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist group, something that has caused unease among many Middle Eastern leaders.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, second right, arrive at Qasr Al-Watan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 14, 2022.

Teacher of international relations Soli Ozel at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University says Erdogan’s UAE visit is part of a wider regional reset, with Iran providing crucial common ground.

“Turkey’s charm offensive has targeted several countries, with one of them the United Arab Emirates. Both countries have an interest, along with all the western countries, for Iran not to be so influential as it is today,” he said.

Turkey is increasingly in competition with Iran, from the Caucasus to Syria.

Last week Turkish pro-government media reported several alleged Iranian agents were arrested in Turkey in a joint Turkish-Israeli intelligence service operation to thwart the assassination of a Turkish-Israeli businessman.

The arrests came after Iran recently cut off natural gas supplies to Turkey for more than a week, causing much of the country’s manufacturing sector to shut down for several days.

Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council, says there are suspicions the gas shut-off may have been politically motivated.

“We’ve seen Iran cut off the natural gas for Turkey ostensibly because [it] had something breaking down or it [Iran] needed it for its internal market. But it’s no coincidence that this happened after a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Iran leader [Ebrahim] Raisi. This was clearly a message to Turkey,” she said.

Iran and Russia are working closely together in Syria in backing the Damascus regime, while Turkey backs Syrian rebels. Moscow has also voiced its anger over Ankara selling armed drones to Ukraine.

Analyst Ozel warns that the Turkish-Iranian rivalry is likely to escalate, with Ankara sharing Western and Middle Eastern countries’ fears over Iran’s nuclear energy program.

“If Turkey wants to jump on board in that struggle, then yes, we can expect Turkish-Iranian relations to be a bit testy. On the other hand, Turkey and Iran manage to have competitive and cooperative relations for centuries, so they are pretty well versed on how to do that,” he said.

If there’s a breakdown in talks between Iran and the international community to resolve concerns over Iran’s nuclear energy program, analysts warn that Turkey’s effort to balance competition and rivalry with its Iranian neighbor could face a greater test.

Iran's Books Shrink as US Sanctions Bite

For literature lovers in sanction-hit Iran, a new novel has long provided a brief respite from a grinding economic crisis triggered by international pressure imposed over Tehran’s contested nuclear programme.

But now losing yourself in a good book is becoming harder, as cash-strapped publishers struggle because the price of paper is soaring.

“If a 200-page novel sold for 400,000 rials ($1.60) last year, its price today is 1,000,000 rials ($4.10), most of which is the cost of production”, said Reza Hasheminejad, who runs the Ofoq publishing house.

Iran does not produce its own paper pulp for publishing so relies on imports, and while those are not under sanctions, they must be paid for in foreign currency. That means the price of a book depends directly on the fluctuation of Iran’s rial.

So publishers are not only slashing the number of titles published, but also cutting the number of pages of those they do print by shrinking the font size.

“Publishing has suffered a major crisis — which could become existential,” said Emily Amrai, collection director at the Houpa publishing house.

While publishers worldwide face growing challenges to the way people read and consume literature, Iran is facing an extra problem.

The United States, under former president Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from a landmark accord to prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb — a goal Tehran has always denied pursuing — with Washington then reimposing tough economic sanctions.

“As soon as the US sanctions were reinstated in 2018, the price of paper rose,” Amrai said.

A member of staff prepares publications for transfer to bookshops, at Iran’s Houpa publishing house in Tehran, on Jan. 29, 2022.

‘A miracle’

Long-running negotiations to revive a deal with Iran continue in Austria, but until an international agreement turns the page, the impact of sanctions grows worse.

“The devaluation of our currency against the greenback, the global rise in the price of paper paid in dollars and the increase in the cost of transport — also paid in foreign currency — has plunged publishing into the doldrums,” said Hossein Motevali, owner of Houpa, which specialises in children’s books.

Because book prices are fixed in Iran, profits are pegged to the rapidly fluctuating price of paper.

“Between receiving the manuscript, laying it out, and setting the price of the book, I can lose everything if the price of paper has gone up suddenly,” Hasheminejad said.

“That happens because I’m at the mercy of the fluctuation of the currencies.”

As for the authors, they are paid by the number of the pages in the book, whether they are famous or not.

“Selling books is a miracle today, because the majority of customers belong to the middle class — and given the economic conditions, their priority is to obtain essential goods such as food,” said Hasheminejad. “I really wonder how people still buy books at these prices.”

Bookstores in Iran look similar to shops anywhere in the world. As well as shelves of Iranian writers, popular sellers include translations of foreign works — from 20th century European classics to self-help and psychology books.

Farsi translations of Mary Trump’s tell-all on her uncle Donald Trump, as well as the memoir of former US first lady Michelle Obama, have been recent hits.

‘Shock’

But as the crisis deepens, several small publishing houses have been driven out of business.

“Today, many independent publishers, who have published excellent works, have been eliminated from the market”, said Amrai.

Larger publishing houses have had to adapt to survive.

“We have reduced our profits by as much as possible in order to keep our customers, we have reduced printing and pagination, and publish digital books to avoid paper and reduce costs,” said Hasheminejad.

“But that will only last a year or two, for even the most solid companies.”

So far, books printed before recent spikes in paper costs provided a buffer, but those stocks are running low.

“In a few months, when the books stored in the depots are exhausted, it will be a shock for the customer when they see the new prices,” Hasheminejad warned.

On Enghelab Street, Tehran’s main book market, retired teacher Behjat Mazloumi, 60, already struggles to afford second-hand books.

“I haven’t been able to buy a book for years,” said Mazloumi. “Even street vendors sell books at a very high price.”

The cost rise will have wider impacts too, experts say.

Children in poorer areas where access to literature is already limited will soon find themselves priced out completely, Hasheminejad said.

“Today, we see people in some disadvantaged areas who cannot even communicate properly in Farsi,” he said. “They will certainly experience difficulties.”

US Says Iran Talks Are at Urgent Point, Few Weeks Left to Complete Deal

WASHINGTON — 

The White House publicly pressured Iran on Wednesday to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement quickly, saying it will be impossible to return to the accord if a deal is not struck within weeks.

“Our talks with Iran have reached an urgent point,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, noting that the U.S. special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has returned to Vienna for indirect talks with Iran on both sides resuming compliance with the pact.

“A deal that addresses the core concerns of all sides is in sight, but if it’s not reached in the coming weeks Iran’s ongoing nuclear advances will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA,” she said, referring to the deal by the acronym for its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Psaki’s comments echoed those of a senior U.S. State Department official who told reporters on January 31 that “we only have a handful of weeks left” to revive the agreement.

Under the accord, Iran restricted its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain the fissile material to make a bomb, an ambition that Tehran denies. In return, the United States and other nations eased sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, arguing that it had failed to stop Iran’s support for regional proxies and gave Tehran too much sanctions relief for the nuclear restrictions. He then restored U.S. sanctions, prompting Iran to begin violating the deal’s nuclear limits a year later.

Iran Nuclear Talks Set to Resume with Deal 'In Sight'

Talks to revive a deal with Iran on its contested nuclear program were set to resume on Tuesday in Vienna after both Washington and Tehran signaled their willingness to clinch an agreement as soon as possible.

The negotiations — attended by Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia and indirectly the United States — were halted at the end of last month.

The resumption of talks comes after parties in recent weeks cited progress in seeking to revive the 2015 accord that was supposed to prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb, a goal it has always denied pursuing.

“A deal that addresses all sides’ core concerns is in sight, but if it is not reached in the coming weeks, Iran’s ongoing nuclear advances will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA,” a US State Department spokesperson said on Monday, referring to the 2015 framework agreement.

Parties have been negotiating in Vienna, with indirect US participation, since last year.

A source close to the discussions told AFP that the delegations had arrived in the Austrian capital and that the discussions were set to resume in the afternoon at the upmarket Coburg Palace hotel.

The United States, under former president Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the pact in 2018 and reimposed tough economic sanctions on Iran, prompting the Islamic republic to begin pulling back from its commitments under the deal and step up its nuclear activities.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that answers that “the United States brings… to Vienna will determine when we can reach an agreement.”

“We have made significant progress in various areas of the Vienna negotiations” including on guarantees sought by Iran that the United States would not breach the deal once again, Khatibzadeh told reporters.

‘Decisive moment’

Experts say the Iranians have deviated so much from the restrictions of the 2015 deal that they are only weeks away from having enough fissile material to make an atomic weapon.

Washington has sought direct negotiations in this home stretch, but said talks remain indirect at Iran’s request.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it “the decisive moment” in an interview with the Washington Post published on Monday.

“We gave them a clear message that now this is the time for decisions and for progress, and not for prolonging the process,” he said. “We hope that they will use the chance.”

“We are five minutes away from the finish line,” Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov said in an interview to the Russian daily Kommersant.

“A draft of the final document has been crafted. There are several points there that need more work, but that document is already on the table,” he continued.

On Friday, Washington made a gesture by announcing it was waiving sanctions on Iran’s civil nuclear program, a technical step necessary to return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

The waiver allows other countries and companies to participate in Iran’s civil nuclear program without triggering US sanctions, in the name of promoting safety and non-proliferation.

The move “should facilitate technical discussions necessary to support talks on JCPOA return in Vienna,” negotiators of Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement Saturday.

For Iran, though, the move fell short.

“Continuing maximum pressure against #Iran, current US administration has so far tried to meet the goals that Trump failed to achieve through bullying, by making unsupported promises.

“With this Washington’s illusions, the path to negotiations will not be smooth” Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in a tweet written in English on Tuesday.

Israeli Leader Talks to Biden About Islamic State, Iran

Jerusalem — 

Israel’s prime minister on Sunday congratulated President Joe Biden for last week’s deadly raid in Syria that killed the leader of the Islamic State group, the Israeli premier’s office announced.

In a phone call with the president, Naftali Bennett told Biden that “the world is now a safer place thanks to the courageous operation of the U.S. forces,” his office said.

Bennett and Biden also discussed Iranian military activity across the Middle East and efforts to block Iran’s nuclear program, it said.

Israel and Iran are arch-enemies, and Israel has raised vocal concerns about U.S.-led efforts to revive the 2015 international nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The deal unraveled after President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018. Israel objected to the initial deal and believes any attempts to restore it will not include sufficient safeguards to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability. Israel also says any deal should address Iranian military activity across the region as well as its development of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.

Earlier Sunday, Bennett said Israel is closely watching world powers’ negotiations with Iran in Vienna, but reiterated his position that Israel is not bound by any agreement reached by them. Israel has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if it believes it is necessary to halt the country’s nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

“Anyone who thinks such an agreement will increase stability is wrong,” Bennett told his Cabinet early Sunday. “Israel reserves its right to act in any case, with or without an agreement.