Iran, the US and other world powers are nearing a deal to revive the 2015 nuclear accord, although negotiators are still wrangling over significant final demands from Tehran, including the scope of sanctions relief, a report by the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.
An agreement could be finalized in Vienna within the next couple of days, said officials involved in the talks. President Biden has set restoring the agreement as a top foreign-policy goal. The White House views an agreement restraining Iran’s nuclear program as key to Middle East stability, allowing the US to focus on China and Russia, the American newspaper further said.
In the latest remarks on the Vienna talks, the Iranian president Ebrahim Raeisi said on a visit to Qatar on Monday that the United States must prove its willingness to lift the anti-Iran sanctions.
Raeisi reiterated that Iran has won in the battles against terrorism and the Maximum Pressure Campaign waged by the former US President Donald Trump and continued under Biden.
In a tweet on Monday, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based International Organizations Mikhail Ulyanov said that the possible agreement would be the same JCPOA in its original format, ruling out speculations that the deal would be weaker than the 2015 nuclear deal.
Moreover, the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters on Monday that there seems to be a long way to go to reach an agreement in Vienna, while saying that the negotiations have made significant progress but the remaining issues are the most difficult, fundamental and serious issues that should be resolved.
Tehran has called for the removal of all the illegal US sanctions and guarantees that the US will not leave the deal again.
KI