TEHRAN -- A source close to the Iranian negotiating team has dismissed reports that the foreign ministers of the countries still a signatory to the 2015 deal with Iran would travel to Vienna to announce a “final agreement”, Press TV has reported.
There has been talk of the foreign ministers of Iran, China, Russia, Germany, Britain and France potentially traveling the Austrian capital over the past months, the broadcaster quoted the unnamed source as saying.
“However, it is not yet clear when such a trip would take place,” the source noted, adding, “No such trip is going to take place as long as the United States refuses to accept Iran’s redlines.”
The U.S. left the deal, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018 and returned the sanctions that the accord had lifted. The deal’s remaining members—the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany—have been holding many rounds of negotiations in Vienna to examine the prospect of the accord’s revival.
The Islamic Republic insists that it will not enter any agreement
that bypasses its redlines. Among other things, Tehran says, a “good agreement” features complete lifting of all the sanctions, guarantees that Washington would not sabotage the deal again, and exclusion of such issues as Tehran’s defense program and regional influence.
The source relayed the information to Press TV after the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel alleged that Vienna was ‘’likely’’ to host a meeting among the foreign ministers of the parties to the deal aimed at announcement of “an agreement”.
Observers say the channel has come up with the false report to potentially alleviate the pressure that European countries have been mounting on the U.S. to accept Iran’s conditions.