Source dismisses report on ‘2-year deal’ in Vienna talks

January 10, 2022 - 21:35

TEHRAN – A source close to the Iranian nuclear team has dismissed as “fake” a report claiming that Tehran and the P4+1 group (Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) have agreed on an interim two-year deal in the Vienna talks intended to lift sanctions on Iran.

The source told Tasnim in Vienna that the report is “utterly false and fake”.

The London-based Rai al-Youm newspaper has claimed that Iran and the negotiating partners have completed a two-year deal by which the U.S. would lift all sanctions placed on Iran during the Trump administration and all of Iran’s enriched uranium would be shipped to Russia in return.

The new round of talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the termination of sanctions on Tehran resumed in Vienna last Monday.

The negotiations resumed after the parties took a three-day break for the New Year holidays.

Representatives of Iran and the P4+1 group began the eighth round of the talks on December 27. The negotiations are focusing on a lifting of all sanctions imposed on Tehran after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the agreement. The U.S. is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout from the landmark deal with Iran in 2018.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the negotiations in Vienna are on the right track.

Speaking to his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Amir Abdollahian said reaching a good agreement is possible if the Western side shows the required goodwill.

Iran has the required will to reaching a “good agreement,” he added.

“We can (therefore) reach a good agreement if the Western side is likewise in possession of such a good faith and will,” the chief diplomat remarked.