Iran FM: Vienna talks not over, US must make tough decisions

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a joint press briefing with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto, at the foreign ministry in Tehran, Iran, Feb 7, 2022. (VAHID SALEMI / AP)

TEHRAN – The Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Monday that the talks in Vienna on the restoration of a 2015 nuclear deal have not come to an end, adding that the United States has yet to make tough political decisions.

Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in Monday's meeting with members of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

A meeting held by the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee aimed at following up on the Iranian negotiating team's efforts to achieve the targets set by the Parliament with a law it passed in December 2020 to counter US sanctions and safeguard Iranians' interests

According to the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee's official report, as part of its supervisory role, the committee held a meeting with the foreign minister to assess the progress of the talks between Iran and the remaining parties to the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in the Austrian capital.

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The meeting was also aimed at following up on the Iranian negotiating team's efforts to achieve the targets set by the Parliament with a law it passed in December 2020 to counter US sanctions and safeguard Iranians' interests.

During the meeting, the report added, Amir Abdollahian laid out the efforts by the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi and the Iranian negotiating team to reach an agreement in Vienna.

Iran signed JCPOA with world powers in July 2015. However, former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, which prompted the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments one year later and advance its halted nuclear programs.

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Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely Britain, China, France, Russia plus Germany, with the United States indirectly involved in the talks, to revive the landmark deal.