TEHRAN - Deputy Speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Nikzad, has said the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) held a meeting on Saturday to address concerns on the ongoing talks in Vienna. 

The Iranian negotiating team as well as Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also attended the meeting. 

In a public session on Sunday, Mohammadreza Pour-Ebrahimi, the chairman of the parliament's Economic Committee, stressed that issues pertinent to Ukraine as well as the Vienna talks are indispensable. 

Subsequently, he said, MPs wrote a letter to the parliament's presidium to request a closed session to discuss JCPOA-related issues. 

A number of Iranian students are caught in the fight as Russia attacked Ukraine on Thursday morning. The Foreign Ministry is making utmost attempts to bring them home. 
 
"Representatives have a lot of concerns about the Vienna talks," he said. “There are also many issues regarding Ukraine and Iranians residing in the country that need to be decided by the presidium and, if possible, in the third shift of the Majlis (parliament), which will be held at 19:00 (local time), a closed meeting will be held to review such issues,” Pour-Ebrahimi explained. 

The representative of the people of Kerman in the parliament said that MPs have concerns about the Vienna negotiations. 
As a result, he said, it is necessary for the chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee along with diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “provide us with explanations in a closed session”.

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s chief negotiator in the Vienna talks, participated in the Saturday meeting of the SNSC. He had returned to Tehran for consultations with senior officials. 

Nikzad, who chaired the meeting, said that Iranian negotiating team, including Bagheri Kani, had returned to Tehran to allay concerns of the Parliament speaker and members of relevant specialized committees. 

Bagheri Kani was to flew to Vienna on Sunday night to pursue the negotiations with a clear agenda aimed at resolving the remaining points. 

Meanwhile Nour News, a media outlet close to the Supreme National Security Council, dismissed a report that the SNSC meeting on the Vienna talks was held at the presence of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, saying that any published news in this regard is not true and is just a media speculation.

Since the Vienna talks have reached a decisive point, the Western negotiators are scrambling to depict a quixotic atmosphere of the talks.

At its last meeting, the SNSC underscored the need to fulfill Iran's legal and logical demands, which are within Tehran’s red lines.

On Saturday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian stated Tehran was ready to “immediately conclude” the Vienna talks if the Western parties “show real will”.

“Seriously reviewing draft of the agreement. Our red lines are made clear to Western parties. Ready to immediately conclude a good deal, should they show real will,” Iran’s top diplomat said on Twitter.

Amir Abdollahian added that Tehran has shown flexibility and seriousness in negotiations with the West over its nuclear policy, warning that some red lines have remained unresolved.