Iran Lawmaker Says 'No Good News' From Vienna Talks

An Iranian lawmaker says there is no good news from the Vienna nuclear talks because technical issues that are obstacles to revive the nuclear deal are not resolved yet.

Ali Alizadeh, the secretary of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee at Iran's parliament, said in an interview published on Friday that it is not likely that the negotiations lead to any results in the near future.

Despite numerous reports about Tehran not considering an interim deal with the world powers, Alizadeh said Iran has not yet announced any formal position on whether to approve or reject the plan, which proposed partial steps in sanction removal and halts in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The suggestion of an interim agreement came first from a European state with the idea focused on releasing Iranian money frozen in Asia. Iran's assets frozen abroad are said to be $50 billion, including $8 billion in South Korea, $3 billion in Japan, and $6 billion in Iraq.

Commenting about the release of Iran's blocked assets, Alizadeh said that with the green light of the Western side and without a media hype, it is happening through Chinese channels instead of the EU-Iran Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX).

“In other words, the sale of Iranian oil and the return of its money to the country is taking place with no trouble, which can be considered a positive step in motivating the parties to conclude the negotiations”, he said.