Iran, Russia Holding Bilateral Meetings In Vienna

Iranian and Russian negotiating teams, including specialists, have met bilaterally in Vienna to discuss issues remaining in reviving the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian media reported.

The negotiators held detailed talks in the Austrian capital Sunday. Ali Bagheri-Kani, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, and Mikhail Ulyanov, led the session but others participating included Mehdi Safari, Iran’s deputy foreign minister responsible for ‘economic diplomacy.’

IRNA says that there is no decision to hold a formal JCPOA commission meeting.

The official news agency IRNA reported Saturday that representatives of Iran’s central bank, the oil ministry and other experts had in recent days re-joined working groups discussing agreement on restoring the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

Wang Qun, China’s ambassador to international organization in Vienna, confirmed to Iran International Saturday that the nuclear talks were reaching a concluding stage.

The talks, which began last April, have centered on the question of which United States sanctions infringe the JCPOA, from which President Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018, and how precisely Iran’s nuclear program, expanded since 2019, should be brought back within JCPOA limits.

The most stringent ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions, which sent the Iranian economy into two years of deep recession and continuing financial crisis, target Iran’s oil exports and its financial sector.