MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani met with Russian officials here Saturday in an unannounced visit after two-day negotiations in the Qatari capital to discuss how to remove sanctions on Iran ended Wednesday.
Russia’s Mission in Vienna said in a tweet that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov met with Bagheri along with Russia’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov.
“It was a very professional exchange of views on the current situation around the JCPOA (the 2015 nuclear deal) and prospects of the Vienna talks,” Ulyanov said after the meeting, referring to several rounds of talks in the Austrian capital to revive the agreement.
Ulyanov expressed optimism that despite the difficulties, the nuclear deal can still be restored, but added the U.S. should demonstrate greater flexibility to revive the deal.
Bagheri’s meeting in Moscow comes days after the Iranian negotiating team held talks in Doha following seven rounds of negotiations in Vienna since April last year.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said Tehran will coordinate with the European side the next stage of the talks.
“Our team is ready to engage constructively to reach a deal,” Majid Takht-Ravanchi said in a post on his Twitter account.
“If U.S. acts realistically & shows serious intention to implement its obligations, agreement is not out of reach,” Takht-Ravanchi said.
Iran, Russia, and China have blamed the U.S. for the impasse to restore the landmark deal.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Bagheri will continue his logical and active approach in complete coordination with him to remove the sanctions that have been re-imposed on Tehran.
In a tweet, he said the talks can succeed if the United States acts realistically and provides Tehran with robust guarantees that it will be able to fully reap the economic benefits of the deal.
Amir-Abdollahian said the Islamic Republic will pursue the diplomatic endeavor with “power” and “rationality”.
“A realistic [approach] by the U.S. and attainment of a long-term guarantee over Iran’s full economic benefits from the agreement can bring about a fruitful outcome at the negotiations,” he wrote.