A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on Oct 8, 2021 shows the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, southeast of the city of the same name, during the visit of the country's president. (IRANIAN PRESIDENCY / AFP)
VIENNA/CAIRO – The remaining parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal plan to meet on Friday to adjourn talks on salvaging the deal, three diplomats said on Thursday.
The indirect US-Iran talks on bringing both back into full compliance with the deal are in their seventh round. One of the diplomats said they were due to resume on Dec 27, while another gave a time frame between Christmas and the New Year.
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Under the agreement, Iran had limited its nuclear program in return for relief from US, European Union and United Nations economic sanctions.
Arab League chief urged Israel to "join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to put all its nuclear activities and facilities under the IAEA's supervision"
Then-president Donald Trump, a Republican, pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions, prompting Iran to begin violating its nuclear restrictions in 2019.
Trump's successor, Democrat Joe Biden, has sought to revive the deal via indirect talks in which officials from other parties – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, as well as the European Union – shuttle between US and Iranian diplomats.
Britain, France and Germany have sounded pessimistic about resuscitating the agreement, saying on Tuesday "we are rapidly reaching the end of the road" to save it as Tehran accused Western powers of engaging in a "blame game."
Arab League-IAEA meeting
In Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit on Thursday discussed with the visiting International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi the nuclear issues in Iran and Israel, according to the AL's statement.
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Aboul-Gheit called on Israel to "join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to put all its nuclear activities and facilities under the IAEA's supervision."
The meeting also tackled the Iranian nuclear talk's latest developments.
Aboul-Gheit highlighted that the concerns of the Arab countries over the Iranian nuclear deal should be considered