Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani arrives at the venue of Iran nuclear deal talks in Vienna, Austria, Feb. 8, 2022. (Photo by Georges Schneider/Xinhua)
Over 98 percent of the nuke deal's draft has been prepared, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said, adding that Iran is waiting for Western countries to make political decisions on the three main remaining issues.
TEHRAN, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Monday that a draft of the final agreement in the Vienna talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal has been prepared, waiting for Western countries to make their political decisions on the three main remaining issues.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the remarks in an address to a weekly press conference, adding that the draft was required to be scrutinized carefully, official news agency IRNA reported.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 1, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Malek/Xinhua)
On the likeliness of a failure to reach an agreement in Vienna, he said over 98 percent of the deal's draft, written and adjusted jointly, have been prepared, noting that what is remaining are the issues that must be resolved.
In phone calls with foreign officials over the past days, "we attempted to clarify for the Western sides Iran's red lines, the logic behind them, the way to resolve the remaining issues and Tehran's positions," he said.
"At present, we have arrived at a point where we presume that no ambiguity exists for the United States and the European states about the red lines. We definitely expect the other sides to refrain from prolonging the negotiations any further," Khatibzadeh added.
Photo taken on Dec. 17, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Xinhua)
Iran signed the original nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015. However, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran.
Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani arrives at the venue of Iran nuclear deal talks in Vienna, Austria, Feb. 8, 2022. (Photo by Georges Schneider/Xinhua)
Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely Britain, China, France, Russia plus Germany, with the United States indirectly involved in the talks, to revive the landmark deal.■
