Exclusive - Russian Envoy Says Iran Nuclear Talks Are Now On 'Right Track'

Russia's envoy in Vienna told Iran International TV Sunday that after a rough start last week, Iran's nuclear talks are progressing more constructively.

Mikhail Ulyanov described the atmosphere of this week's talks as much more constructive compared to last week when he said time was wasted. "No demarches… Just normal business-like dialogue," Ulyanov said after a meeting of delegations in an apparent reference to the Iranian negotiators' approach last week.

"We are on the right track, we don't waste time, we maintain dialogue, we arrange meetings at expert level, at higher level, like this one," he said, adding that he was "fully satisfied".

He also noted that as far as he knows, US President Joe Biden is "fully committed to successful conclusion of these talks" and that Biden and Vladimir Putin both want the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to be restored. Ulyanov also said the European Union's External Service was "doing a great job" as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.

Ulyanov stressed that talks are based on the text prepared in June after the six rounds of talks before the Iranian elections. President Ebrahim Raisi’s hardliner government trying to disregard understandings reached in talks during the former Iranian administration insists that current negotiations are based on two texts it presented to the other negotiators last week.

The Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool Sunday warned Tehran that time is running out to revive the JCPOA. The final communique from the G7 meeting said Iran "must stop its nuclear escalation and seize the opportunity to conclude a deal, while this is still possible.”

Britain, the current rotating president of G7, said the nuclear talks in Vienna that resumed after a five-month hiatus were the Islamic Republic's "last chance to come to the negotiating table with a serious resolution".

"There is still time for Iran to come and agree this deal," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told a press conference Sunday while emphasizing that the Islamic Republic will not be allowed to build a nuclear bomb.

Truss was the first among the officials of the JCPOA signatories to give a clear ultimatum to Tehran last week and she repeated the warning on Sunday.

A senior US State Department official said Saturday there was an "intense" conversation among the G7 countries, which were united in their position on the nuclear talks, adding that “time is shrinking, so we're united in that.”

Speaking after meetings with her G7 counterparts in Liverpool, Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock Saturday told reporters that time was running out to revive the nuclear deal with Iran and complained that it had shown in the last days that no progress had been made.

Iran's top negotiator, Ali Bagheri-Kani told the state-run Press TV Sunday that European countries had failed to offer any constructive initiative or proposal. "European parties fail to come up with any initiatives to resolve differences over the removal of sanctions," he said.

Bagheri-Kani also told Press TV that unresolved differences over sanctions have remained from the previous talks held before President Ebrahim Raisi's election. The differences, especially on the nuclear issue, are numerous and varied,” he said.

Bagheri-Kani also told Lebanon's pro-Iranian Al Mayadeen TV Sunday that Tehran's approach during the recent negotiations was successful and good progress was made which will pave the way for "serious negotiations".