Iran nuclear deal: Officials suggest talks nearing conclusion
The US and Iran appeared to be closing in on a deal to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, with both sides suggesting talks had entered the final stretch.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday that Washington was in "the midst of the very final stages" of negotiations with Iran to salvage the accord.
"This is a decisive period during which we'll be able to determine whether a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA is in the offing or if it's not," he said.
Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's lead negotiator, tweeted early on Thursday: "After weeks of intensive talks, we are closer than ever to an agreement; nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, though."
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Washington and Tehran entered into an eighth round of negotiations aimed at reviving the nuclear accord last week. Iran has refused to deal directly with the US, leaving the other parties to the agreement - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - to shuttle between them during the talks in Vienna, Austria.
The Trump administration pulled out of the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018, on the grounds that it failed to rein in Tehran's support for regional proxies and ballistic missile development.
Iran maintained compliance with the accord for a few months before it began rolling back its commitments in 2019 and enriching uranium.
US officials have assessed that the time frame in which Iran could produce enough fuel for a nuclear bomb - the "breakout time" - has been significantly reduced since 2018 from the one-year framework that underpinned the original agreement.
The Biden administration has warned that Iran’s nuclear advances leave an increasingly narrow window of time to reenter the agreement, especially as Tehran has continued with its nuclear developments during the talks. Iran has rejected the imposition of any deadline on negotiations.
On Wednesday, France's foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told parliament that a decision on whether the nuclear deal would be revived was imminent.
"We have reached a tipping point now. It's not a matter of weeks, it's a matter of days," he said.
France's top diplomat said western powers had reached a consensus with China and Russia - two of Iran's closest partners - on the framework for an agreement.
"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," Le Drian said.
A major sticking point in the talks has been Iran’s demand that the Biden administration removes all sanctions on the country, including those put in place before the Trump administration launched its "maximum pressure" campaign.
Tehran has also requested a guarantee from Washington that subsequent administrations won't pull out of the deal, a demand the Biden administration has said is impossible for it to meet.
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