Talks between Iran and world powers resumed Monday in Vienna at the Palais Coburg Hotel.
Diplomats from China, Russia, Britain, Germany and France gathered to resume the negotiations over the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal.
The last round of talks was held in June.
Iran is demanding the removal of all US and EU sanctions – including those unrelated to Tehran’s nuclear program – as well as a verification mechanism for the removal of embargo and US guarantees that the next American administration will not breach any deal reached.
“If other parties are ready to return to their full obligations and lift sanctions, a good and even immediate agreement can be reached,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Friday in a telephone conversation with European Union Foreign Affairs Chierf Joseph Borrell.
“Our demands are clear,” an Iranian source told Reuters. “Other parties and especially Americans should decide whether they want this deal to be revived or not. They abandoned the pact, so they should return to it and lift all sanctions.”
Western powers are not optimistic about the chances the deal can be revived.
“If Iran thinks it can use this time to build more leverage and then come back and say they want something better, it simply won’t work,” US envoy Robert Malley told BBC Sounds on Saturday. He added that Washington is ready to ramp up pressure on Iran if the talks collapse.
The Biden Administration has suggested diplomats reach an open-ended interim agreement with Iran until a permanent deal is achieved. Iran has nixed any such idea, Reuters reported.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told reporters in London that ultimately, the Iranians will “play for time, earn billions from the removal of sanctions, continue to deceive the world and covertly advance their nuclear program.”