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VIENNA: Iran and world powers held what they described as “constructive” talks and agreed to form working groups to discuss the sanctions Washington might lift and the nuclear curbs Tehran might observe as they try to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
European intermediaries have started shuttling between Iranian and US officials in Vienna as they seek to bring both countries back into compliance with the accord, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs to its nuclear programme.
The talks included a meeting of the remaining parties to the original deal: Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia in a group called the Joint Commission that is chaired by the European Union. The United States did not attend.
While neither Washington nor Tehran say they expect any quick breakthroughs from the talks, both they and the EU described the early exchanges in positive terms.
“Constructive Joint Commission meeting. There’s unity and ambition for a joint diplomatic process with two expert groups on nuclear implementation and sanctions lifting,” said EU chief coordinator Enrique Mora said on Twitter. “I will intensify separate contacts here in Vienna with all relevant parties, including US,” he added.
The two expert-level groups have been given the task of marrying lists of sanctions that the United States could lift with nuclear obligations Iran should meet. They will report back on Friday when the Joint Commission will meet again. “The talks in Vienna were constructive … our next meeting will be on Friday,” Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi told Iranian state television.
“It is a welcome step, it is a constructive step, it is a potentially useful step,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington even as he repeated the US expectation that the indirect talks would be “difficult.”
A resolution of the nuclear issue could help ease tensions in the Middle East, notably between Iran and Israel as well as with US Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia who fear the possibility of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.
