Russia Says There Is Still A Long Way To Reach A Deal With Iran

Russia has said there is still a long way to go in the Vienna talks before the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers can be revived.

According to Reuters, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the remarks on Thursday as indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the deal resumed on Tuesday after a 10-day break.

Although the negotiating teams in Vienna give little away as to whether they are closer to resolving the thorny issues, Lavrov’s comment is in contradiction to that of Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s lead negotiator and its ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, who said the talks were “five minutes” from the finish line.

“A draft of the final document has been crafted,” he said. “There are several points there that need more work, but that document is already on the table.”

Reiterating Iran’s demand that the US remove all sanctions imposed under ‘maximum pressure’ since 2018 when the Trump administration left the 2015 deal (the JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Monday that “the latest texts obtained from the Vienna talks” failed to address “parts of our demands for the lifting of sanctions.”

Rob Malley, the White House Iran envoy leading the American team taking part indirectly in Vienna, told the MSNBC Friday that negotiators had not reached agreement on central issues, such as exactly which US sanctions should be lifted.