Iran Calls For Realism As Nuclear Talks Continue

Foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Wednesday that a “sensitive and important point” had been reached in Iran’s nuclear talks with world powers.

"We wonder whether the western side can adopt a realistic approach to go through the remaining points of the talks,” Amir-Abdollahian told a news conference alongside his Omani counterpart Badr Albusaidi in Tehran.

Oman has several times facilitated Iran-United States contacts, including ‘back door’ talks before open talks led to the 2015 JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), the nuclear agreement that current Vienna talks seek to revive after US withdrawal in 2018.

Muscat has also operated as a channel for discussions over prisoner releases. There has been growing speculation, fed by US Iran ‘special envoy’ Rob Malley and a Reuters story citing Iranian officials, that Tehran and Washington are preparing a prisoner exchange as an adjunct to the Vienna talks.

Amir-Abdollahian said he had underlined to Josep Borrell, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, during the recent Munich Security Conference that Tehran was set on securing guarantees that the US would uphold commitments to restore the JCPOA and would lift ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions imposed since Washington left the deal in 2018.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s lead negotiator in Vienna, tweeted Tuesday that the talks were near concluding. Both United Kingdom lead negotiator Stephanie Al-Qaq and Enrique Mora, the EU official chairing the talks, said that crucial issues remained to be agreed.