Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Sunday that Tehran and Washington are still far from achieving the required “balance” in commitments at the Vienna talks aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal.
“Despite limited progress in the Vienna talks, we are still far from achieving the necessary balance in the commitments of the parties,” tweeted the top security official.
“Political decisions in Washington are requirements for the balance of commitments to reach a good agreement,” he added.
For his part, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Tehran has not seen “serious and considerable initiatives” from the US side.
“We seek a good agreement, and we are not looking for a limited or temporary deal,” said the top diplomat according to IRNA.
Abdollahian called for Washington taking “practical steps,” and stressed that the US must lift sanctions in a “tangible” fashion.
“What happens on paper is good but not enough,” Abdollahian said on Saturday, adding that “we seek and demand guarantees in the political, legal and economic sectors.”
The minister stressed that Iran had not received any preconditions from the US to revive the nuclear agreement, and said that the negotiations “are moving in a direction in which the issue of preconditions is not raised.”
Iran and world powers that are still part of the agreement (France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China), with indirect US participation, are engaged in talks in Vienna with the aim of reviving the 2015 deal from which the US unilaterally withdrew in 2018 under former President Donald Trump.
The talks broadly aim to get the US and Iran to return to mutual compliance regarding the deal.
The US would lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for the latter’s return to respecting its nuclear commitments.
