TEHRAN— A final deal on the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program could be attained as early as next week if the developments proceed in a “favorable” way, Russia’s top negotiator in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS in an interview published on Sunday.

"In the event of favorable development of events the final agreement may be reached as early as next week," he said. 

"However, it is possible if all countries participating in the Vienna talks agree with the version of the text provided by EU coordinators on August 8. If amendments, objections appear it is difficult to project further developments now. We have to wait for the beginning of next week," the diplomat said.

Ulyanov noted that EU coordinators have made various changes to the draft that is now on the table.

"This is not an EU text, but the one developed by all participants of the talks that have been underway since last April. As coordinators the EU’s representatives may offer compromise options, which they did. Indeed, the U.S. has apparently agreed, whereas Iran has not yet defined its position on the text, which is why I will not speculate on what issues Tehran may still have," he explained.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany reached a nuclear agreement with Iran in 2015. In 2018, then U.S. President Donald Trump chose to withdraw from the agreement, imposing the most severe sanctions in history against Tehran in line with his “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran. 

Joe Biden, the current U.S. President, has consistently stated his support for resuming the nuclear deal just in words.

U.S. top negotiator rebuffs report U.S. giving concessions

In an interview with PBS News Hour on Saturday, U.S. top negotiator Robert Malley rebuffed the claims made in media that the U.S. is giving Iran concessions.

In response to a question regarding the U.S. is showing flexibility in exchange for the IAEA dropping allegations against Iran, Malley said, “No. And, again, we have made this clear. And I know there's been some reporting to the contrary. Our position is transparent. And it's clear for everyone to hear, which is, we're not going to put any pressure on the Atomic — International Atomic Energy Agency to close these outstanding issues.”

He continued, “They will be closed when Iran provides the technically credible answers that the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has requested of them. As soon as they do that, and as soon as the agency is satisfied, we will be satisfied, but not before.”

On Friday night, Politico published a report saying that the Biden administration is prepared to make greater concessions than expected to secure a deal, “especially by reducing pressure on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“Under the proposed text, Europeans and other non-Americans could conduct business with Iranian entities engaged in ‘transactions’ with the IRGC without fear of triggering U.S. sanctions, as is currently the case, provided their primary business partner was not on a U.S. sanctions registry,” Politico said.

When asked about Politico’s report, Malley said, “We would not and have not and will not negotiate any lowering of our standards about what European or other companies need to do if they want to do business with Iran. They have to respect our sanctions.”

“The sanctions are very well-defined. The Treasury Department puts out very clear standards for what companies need to do, what kind of due diligence they need to do. And any report to the contrary that is claiming that we will lower those standards, that we will negotiate those standards are just flat-out wrong,” he remarked. 

However, Malley said that if the agreement is signed, Iran would have access to its frozen assets.

“I can say there are assets that have been frozen, assets, money that Iran collected at a time when the sanctions were not in place, and that are now in bank accounts across the globe. They would be able to have access to those if they come back into compliance with the nuclear deal,” the top U.S. negotiator noted.

He then pointed out, “And, of course, they would be able to sell oil, which they are not able to do now, and to get the proceeds from the sale of oil.”

On Sunday evening, a draft of the EU proposals was submitted to the Iranian parliament, the spokesman for National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the parliament said.

“As representatives of the people, we will review the government's report of the text being discussed in the Vienna negotiations, and if it (Majlis) reaches the final conclusion, it will definitely be considered in the interaction between the government and the Majlis in close collaboration,” Abolfazl Amouei told IRNA.

He added, “We believe that the negotiations should lead to the removal of sanctions in such a way that the economic benefits and benefits of foreign trade are provided for the country's businessmen and people.”