According to a Russian diplomat, the agreement is nearly complete.
International talks to salvage the Iran nuclear deal are drawing to an end, with the final wording of the accord almost ready, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative at the negotiations, revealed in an interview published on Friday.
However, the document meant to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program still has to be approved by both Iran and the US, which unilaterally left the deal.
Izvestia received a statement from the Russian Ambassador indicating that everyone had reached an almost unanimous agreement regarding the wording of the new document.
According to Ulyanov, there will be no protracted talks in the nearest future, with the eventual fate of the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), hinging on whether its parties, including Tehran, will consent to “The August 8th package solution was distributed.”
He was referring to the EU-submitted “Text final” that had been negotiated by all parties on Monday. EU Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter that “Behind every technical problem and paragraph is a decision to make in capitals.” signaling that the text should now be approved by the governments in Iran and the US.
According to Ulyanov, “The text has almost been agreed to.”
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Moscow speaks out on ‘Plan B’ for Iran nuclear deal
“Iran raised questions about a couple of words or lines. All other matters are considered agreed to.,” he added.
However, the Russian ambassador cautioned that “Details are where the devil lies,” and even the last few sentences may prove to be a stumbling block, as has happened before.
“It is my hope that it will not be so. This is the text [agreement]This isn’t a bad thing; it reflects an acceptable compromise. It is when everybody is happy and dissatisfied by certain parts of the draft. This is a good thing. It means the package is balanced and is what multilateral negotiations should look like.,” he noted.
Ulyanov claimed that the ultimate goal of these talks is to return back to the 2015 agreement, however, both sides needed to implement some changes due to how much time has passed since the original document was signed.
“Because of the maximization of pressure, [former US President Donald]Trump’s significant boost to the Iranian nuclear programme has resulted in a substantial increase. Perhaps, even the Iranians themselves, – or, at least external observers – did not expect such progress. All this needs to be backtracked, and all this will be done if the deal is closed… The nuclear program will return to its former state,” the diplomat pointed out.
Ulyanov comments come as the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Thursday that any ‘Plan B’ in the talks on the Iranian nuclear deal would violate a “consensus decision” of the UN Security Council on the issue and have “unavoidable negative consequences” for the Middle East. Some Western media had published articles calling for Washington and Brussels, among other things, to find an alternate path, which is still being negotiated, if negotiations in Vienna fail.
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White House announces that the US offered to Iran a nuclear agreement in mutual return.
According to Ivan Nechaev, the ministry’s deputy spokesman, the revival of the existing 2015 deal through the Vienna talks is the only “It is a sensible, efficient and cost-effective way” forward. At that, he welcomed the latest round of indirect talks between the US and Iranian delegations in the Austrian capital, adding that “a positive result… is achievable.”
The original nuclear deal signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, the UK, France and Germany – as well as Russia, China and the EU – involved Tehran agreeing to certain restrictions on its nuclear industry in exchange for the easing of economic sanctions and other incentives.
The US, under the then-President Donald Trump, tore it apart in 2018. He unilaterally pulled out of the deal claiming it was flawed. Iran began to reduce some of its obligations under the agreement. For example, Iran reduced the amount of enriched nuclear uranium that it produced. Iran could have the potential of building an atomic weapon. However, according to Iranian authorities, that “It is not on our agenda.”
