TEHRAN -- A working group made up of experts from Iran and the remaining parties to the 2015 deal is discussing the removal of sanctions against Tehran in Vienna.
In a tweet on Sunday, European Union deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora said the negotiators are meeting at the Palais Coburg Hotel, where the last two rounds of the talks have been held. More meetings were scheduled for later in the day, Mora added.
“Success of #ViennaTalks on #JCPOA is still uncertain, what’s only logical in such a complex negotiation.”
“As coordinator, I can’t but commend delegations commitment to a success,” he added.
Iran and the remaining parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear agreement, have been holding talks in the Austrian capital since April last year.
The talks have focused on the removal of all sanctions that the United States reimposed on Iran following its unilateral withdrawal from the accord in May 2018.
Tehran has asserted that it will reverse its nuclear measures, which it took in response to the U.S. withdrawal, only after Washington fully honors all of its commitments under the JCPOA.
IRNA on Friday quoted an informed source as saying that the negotiators are increasingly working on the sequence of actions that need to be taken under a possible agreement.
“We are engaged in discussing the details,” the source said. “This is one of the most ... lengthy and difficult stages of the negotiations, yet absolutely necessary in order to achieve our goal.”
Also on Friday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that “reaching an accord is possible.”
“There’s a better atmosphere since Christmas – before Christmas I was very pessimistic,” Borrell said.
Iran has also noted “good progress” in the talks, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said last Monday that it is “not acceptable that the other side moves at turtle speed and we move at light speed.”