The file photo taken on Oct. 27, 2021 shows Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian (2nd L) speaking at the Second Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring Countries in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ahmad Malek/Xinhua)
TEHRAN, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister said on Tuesday that the talks in Vienna, Austria on the restoration of a 2015 nuclear deal are on a "good path."
In an address to reporters on the sidelines of a Tuesday ceremony, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that "we have a unified and joint text, on which the Iranian negotiating team is focused," Iranian Foreign Ministry reported on its website.
The Iranian top diplomat noted that the other parties to the deal are also focused on the issues "we placed in the text," which are those the sides have differences on.
Enrique Mora, the European Union deputy foreign policy chief, has been actively making efforts to play the coordination role, Amir-Abdollahian said.
Photo taken on Dec. 3, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Commission on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Xinhua)
He said if the other parties, including France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany, continue the negotiations with goodwill, it will be possible to reach a good agreement in the near future.
Iran and the five signatories started the eighth round of talks in Vienna in a bid to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the U.S. quitted in 2018 under former President Donald Trump who then reimposed sweeping sanctions on Iran.
The U.S. has been indirectly taking part in the Vienna talks which have been held since April.
The 2015 nuclear deal eased the previous U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran's curbing its nuclear program, which the U.S.-led Western countries have suspected as an attempt to create nuclear weapons despite Iran's insistence that it is peaceful. ■
