TEHRAN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that agreements have been reached to a large extent in the talks in Vienna on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, and what remains are key issues that require political decisions by the United States.
Many of the tables and their columns have been prepared in the negotiations and part of the parentheses have been cleared, the ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said during a weekly press conference, according to official news agency IRNA.
Washington has to announce its decision about the remaining important issues and the removal of the sanctions, he noted.
"If this takes place after chief negotiators return to Vienna, it can be said we are moving at a good pace toward a reliable and lasting agreement," Khatibzadeh said.
Chief negotiators of different delegations had returned to their capitals for a break for more consultations while the expert meetings continued in the Austrian capital, the spokesman added.
Commenting on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's remarks on Thursday of "a few weeks left" to save the Iran nuclear deal, and that Washington is ready to look at "other options" if the negotiations fail, Khatibzadeh suggested Blinken "undertake all his efforts and initiatives, if any, to make the plan A deliver results."
"A plan B is not appealing enough to any country. Mr. Blinken knows better than anybody else that each country has a plan B for itself. Perhaps, Iran's plan B is not very attractive to them," he explained.
The nuclear deal signed in July 2015, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), eased the previous U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbing its nuclear program, which the West has suspected as an attempt to create nuclear weapons despite Iran's insistence on the program's peacefulness.
Since April 2021, Iran and the five remaining JCPOA signatories, namely Britain, China, France, Russia plus Germany, have been holding talks in Vienna to restore the nuclear deal. Washington abandoned the deal in 2018 under former President Donald Trump and reimposed sweeping sanctions on Iran.
The United States has been indirectly taking part in the Vienna talks. ■
