Politics

Nuclear talks with Iran take New Year break, to resume on January 3

Vienna, Dec 30 (EFE).- Negotiations to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran are set to resume in Vienna on January 3, after the New Year’s holiday.

Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov said Thursday in a statement that an agreement is expected in the “first half of February if some unexpected factors do not interfere and spoil everything.”

“The problem is that we are dealing with a very complicated issue which consists of a lot of various … question marks, problems. It takes time. We are dealing with sanctions lifting (imposed by the US on Iran),” he added.

Delegations from Iran and the other signatories of the deal — Russia, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France — resumed the talks in November after a five-month hiatus, with the United States taking part in the negotiations indirectly.

The first six rounds of talks took place between April and June but were disrupted after Iran elected ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi president.

The talks aim to revive the agreement reached in 2015 to limit the Islamic Republic’s atomic program in exchange for the easing of international sanctions.

In 2018, former US president Donald Trump withdrew his country from the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Tehran, which in return downsized its commitment to its atomic obligations.

According to the negotiators meeting in the Austrian capital, there are some weeks left and not months to reach a deal and reestablish the rules and limits of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

A source in Vienna, who requested anonymity, said Thursday that it is “impossible to say when this negotiation can achieve a successful result, although we are talking about weeks, not months.”EFE

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