TEHRAN -- An Iranian foreign ministry official has dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that a text for restoring the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran had been completed and that negotiations in Vienna were finished.
“Given the continuation of discussions on several important remaining issues, we are not yet at a stage where we can talk about the finalization of the text,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency late Monday.
Iranian officials have said they had already conveyed an initial response to the draft and would come back with additional views at a later point.
“The negotiating team of the Islamic Republic of Iran has presented its constructive opinions to the other side with the aim of advancing the negotiations, and the outcome of the talks depends on the will of the other side to make the necessary political decisions,” the foreign ministry official said.
“We still believe that if appropriate decisions are made by the other side, the negotiations can be concluded quickly, but we are not at this stage yet,” the official added.
The negotiations to revive the deal through removing U.S. sanctions on Iran have dragged on since April 2021. While the Biden administration has claimed to be ready to return to compliance with the deal which its predecessor abandoned in 2018, it has taken no practical measures to undo Washington’s past wrongs.
In a phone call on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian told EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that Iran “expected that all sides show determination and seriousness to reach the final text of the agreement.”
Iranian media also dismissed the idea that the text was close to being finalized, saying there