TEHRAN – The Russian envoy to the Vienna talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, has expressed surprise at the positions adopted by the European trio in the talks. 

In an interview with the Russian service of Iran’s Pars Today, Ulyanov described the positions of France, Germany and Britain, collectively known as the E3, as “illogical and destructive”, according to Press TV. 

He said the Europeans’ stance at the Vienna talks is “surprising.”

“It is as if it is their first time sitting down at the negotiation table. They tend to adopt some illogical positions,” he said. 

He added, “At a meeting among Russian representatives, [US Special Envoy for Iran] Rob Malley and Chinese delegates, I made it clear that we do not practically understand what the Europeans say. Their stances are unconstructive and destructive. Our understanding of negotiations and diplomacy is different from theirs. We consider such standpoints as unconstructive.”

The Russian diplomat pointed out, “Our Iranian colleagues have presented their demands rather transparently and put forward their proposals in a written form. From Russia’s point of view, this is a step forward because neither a written agreement nor an official consensus was reached at the end of the previous six rounds of negotiations.”

Ulyanov also said that “the best solution would be for the final agreement to be passed in the parliaments of participating countries. This is, however, unlikely to be an easy job with the United States since neither the House nor the Senate would vote in favor of approving such an agreement.”