EU's Borell says Iran nuclear talks moving to crucial stage
Negotiations are going into a vital stage in Vienna between world powers and Iran, and the next two weeks will be important to maintaining their 2015 nuclear deal, European Union top diplomat said Monday.
U.S. officials returned to Vienna this week for a fourth round of indirect discussions with Iran on how to restart compliance with the deal abandoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018, causing Iran to break its uranium enrichment limit roughly a year later. Learn more
"I'm confident, there's a window of opportunity to keep open for a few weeks, (till) the end of the month," EU Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell, who chairs the negotiations, told a Brussels press conference.
But more work is needed, time is short, and I hope discussions will enter a non-stop phase in Vienna," he said during a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
The essence of the 2015 agreement was that Iran promised to reign down its uranium enrichment programme to make it difficult to get fissile material for a nuclear bomb in return for U.S., EU, and U.N. sanctions relief.
Tehran denies ambitious nuclear weapons.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas described the discussions as rigorous and arduous, but said that all parties were in a good spirit.
"Time runs out, though. We intend to restore the Iran nuclear agreement in full, since this is the only way to ensure that Iran is unable to acquire nuclear weapons, "Maas stated Brussels.
The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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