Iran to walk out if Vienna talks become protracted: Top negotiator

Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said Sunday Iran will not allow ongoing negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal in Vienna become long-drawn-out.

Iran has been in talks over the past weeks with the remaining parties to landmark deal – Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – in the Austrian capital to salvage the accord known as the JCPOA.

The agreement has been unraveling since former US president Donald Trump pulled out of it in 2018 and imposed draconian sanctions on Iran. The withdrawal prompted Iran to, in turn, ramp up its nuclear activities a year later.

“We will not allow the negotiations to become protracted,” Araqchi, who leads Iran’s delegation to the talks, told ICANA News Agency after a meeting with members of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on Sunday.

 “If we feel that other parties are not serious, or are seeking to buy time or include other issues to the negotiations, we will walk out of the talks,” Araqchi said. 

He said Iran is in no hurry for the meetings to yield a result. 

“There are serious issues in the negotiations that require to be addressed carefully,” the top negotiator pointed out. 

Araqchi noted that Iran and other JCPOA parties are on a path that can lead to favorable destination.

“It is too early to say whether we can overcome the challenges and obstacles,” he said, adding that Iranian negotiators are not disappointed. 

Talks are set to resume this week in Vienna with all sides describing them as “constructive” including the United States which has been present in the Austrian capital but was not participating due to Iran’s opposition. 

The talks are aimed at determining which sanctions the United States should lift before rejoining the deal and which measures Iran should take to return into compliance with the accord.

Source: Iran Daily