Diplomats paused international talks in Vienna Friday aiming at the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with European participants “disappointment and concern” after five days of negotiation.
“Tehran is walking back almost all of the difficult compromises crafted after many months of hard work,” said senior diplomats from the so-called E3 (Britain, France and Germany), referring to the previous rounds of talks between April and June.
Delegations from the talks will now return to their national capitals before talks restart in Vienna in the middle of next week “to see whether gaps can be closed or not”, the diplomats said.
The E3 “remain fully committed to a diplomatic way forward,” they added, but stressed that “time is running out”.
The talks are aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, which was initially agreed between Britain, China, France, Germany Iran, Russia and the United States.
The accord aimed at putting curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme to ensure it couldn’t develop an atomic weapon, in exchange for sanctions relief for Tehran.
Iran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
The deal began unravelling in 2018 when then US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to start exceeding limits on its nuclear programme the following year. –AFP
