TEHRAN — The spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament said that the final draft of the Vienna talks is not ready yet, therefore, it is too soon to make judgments.

In an interview with IRNA on Tuesday, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini talked about the content of the meeting between members of the parliamentary committee with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, which took place on Monday night.

Talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the JCPOA, started in April last year. However, the talks have come to a standstill as the U.S. is refusing to take certain political decisions, including removing the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.
 
Meshkini said that a detailed report on the Vienna talks was presented to the committee members by Amir Abdollahian and Bagheri Kani.

In addition, representatives of special committees in the Foreign Ministry presented reports on Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and the region.

The MP added, “The questions of the committee members were raised and all the questions were answered. My understanding and that of the members of the committee from all the reports that have been presented, and given the serious responses provided by the foreign minister and the Iranian negotiating team, is that fortunately, so far, the progress of the negotiations has been good and the negotiating team has acted within the red lines of the country.”

The parliamentary committee spokesman stressed that based on what was stated, no draft has been officially presented yet that MPs on the committee can make their judgments. 

Of course, he said, an overview of the negotiations in Vienna is recorded by the negotiating parties. However, Meshkini added, there are still differences of opinion regarding the form of the negotiations and what has been said.

'The draft is not ready to be judged’

The MP underscored that the draft is a text on which the sides express their agreements and prepare for signature by the foreign ministers of the involved parties. In other words, he said, the final draft is not ready yet to be judged.

Meshkini also called the meeting between Amir Abdollahian and the MPs important in line with the policy to see that the red lines of the establishment are observed. 

According to the reports presented, “no violation of the red lines has been seen so far,” he underlined. 

“Of course, there are some issues in the media that we have nothing to do with. I am quoting the official report of the authorities that, based on the documents provided, the members of the committee have not yet concluded that the red lines have been violated,” he added.

'Negotiating team has not deviated from red lines’

Meshkini continued by saying that according to what was said in this meeting, there are still debates on some issues and the negotiating team is following up on those debates. 

“The Western side is resisting and in some cases they are insisting and we are resisting. Because they were asking us to deviate from our red lines and the negotiating team does not accept that,” he stated. 

The spokesman reiterated that according to reports, Westerners, especially the Americans, need this agreement more. 

“Of course, we do not consider the agreement out of reach and we are looking for a good result. The tangible result, based on the removal of some restrictions on our economic system, must be visible,” the legislator continued. 

'Good agreement is achievable’

Referring to the remarks made by the minister of foreign affairs and the chief negotiator at the meeting on Monday night, Meshkini said, “The negotiating team is looking for a good agreement and the work process shows that the agreement is within reach. Only if the other parties have the least amount of fairness, seriousness and good faith, we can reach an agreement to ensure the interests of both parties.”

'Negotiating team coordinates Vienna talks step by step’ 

The legislator added that the negotiating team emphasized at the Monday night meeting that the contents of the Vienna talks are coordinated step by step with the institutions of the establishment.

“The team coordinates the proposals and there is no need to worry. If there is an agreement, this agreement will serve our national interests. If there is no agreement, we will not go under the burden of the imposed agreement,” Meshkini remarked.

Regarding the time of preparing the draft, the MP said, “If the remaining issues are resolved and the other side shows good faith and does not sabotage the talks, the official draft will be prepared within 24 hours. But at this point, the Americans are behaving in a contradictory way, and they may have come to the conclusion that if they erode the work, they will succeed.”

He concluded his remarks by saying that seemingly, the Europeans are also critical of this behavior by the Americans. 

“Of course, if we do not reach an agreement, we have other options. But according to reports, the deal is not far off,” the spokesman noted.