DUBAI: The United States needs to decide to conclude an agreement to defend IranThe 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday amid fears that tough talks in Vienna could fail.
Efforts to secure a new deal were left in limbo after last-minute demands by Russia – now at odds with the West over its invasion of Ukraine – despite the largely full text of the powers negotiating an indefinite period. forced to stop.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirbadollahian to visit Russia on Tuesday, ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadehi explained at a weekly news conference.
“We are currently relieved of the nuclear talks,” Khatibzadeh said. “We are not at the point of announcing an agreement yet because there are some important open issues that Washington needs to decide.”
The US State Department said on Friday that Washington believed a possible deal was close to return to the 2015 accord, but said a decision needed to be made in places like Tehran and Moscow.
On March 5, Russia’s foreign minister unexpectedly demanded comprehensive guarantees that Russian trade with Iran would not be affected by sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine – a demand which was called unacceptable by Western powers and Washington. Insisted that he would not agree to it.
The collapse of talks to restore constraints on its uranium enrichment program could result in Tehran within walking distance of developing a nuclear weapon, a possibility that could ignite a new war in the Middle East. Tehran denies that it has ever demanded a nuclear bomb.
Still, Tehran looked cautiously optimistic on Monday in assessing the future of the now 11-month-old talks.
“We will remain in the Vienna negotiations until our legal and logistical demands are met and a strong agreement is reached.” Ali ShamkhaniSecretary of the Supreme National Security Council, which makes decisions at the Vienna talks, said in a tweet.
iranian missile strike
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said he had discussed nuclear talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov During his visit to Moscow.
Sheikh Mohammed, who spoke from the Russian capital at a televised press conference, did not provide further details.
In addition to a halt to Vienna talks, tensions have risen as Iran fired a dozen missiles at Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region, on Sunday, in an attack that appeared to target the United States and its allies.
Iranian state media said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps carried out the attack against Israel’s “strategic centers” in Erbil, suggesting that it was in retaliation for recent Israeli airstrikes that killed Iranian military personnel in Syria. was killed.
Khatibzadeh said Tehran had repeatedly warned Iraqi officials that its territory should not be used by third parties to launch attacks against Iran.
“Iraq’s central government has a responsibility to ensure that its territory is not used as a base for third-party attacks against Iran,” Khatibzadeh said.
“At various times in the past, Iraq’s territory was used against Iran by third parties, including Kurdish terrorists, terrorist groups such as the United States and a Zionist entity,” he said, referring to Israel.
In another blow to regional diplomacy, Iran said on Sunday it was postponing a fifth round of talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia to be held this week in Baghdad.
Efforts to secure a new deal were left in limbo after last-minute demands by Russia – now at odds with the West over its invasion of Ukraine – despite the largely full text of the powers negotiating an indefinite period. forced to stop.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirbadollahian to visit Russia on Tuesday, ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadehi explained at a weekly news conference.
“We are currently relieved of the nuclear talks,” Khatibzadeh said. “We are not at the point of announcing an agreement yet because there are some important open issues that Washington needs to decide.”
The US State Department said on Friday that Washington believed a possible deal was close to return to the 2015 accord, but said a decision needed to be made in places like Tehran and Moscow.
On March 5, Russia’s foreign minister unexpectedly demanded comprehensive guarantees that Russian trade with Iran would not be affected by sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine – a demand which was called unacceptable by Western powers and Washington. Insisted that he would not agree to it.
The collapse of talks to restore constraints on its uranium enrichment program could result in Tehran within walking distance of developing a nuclear weapon, a possibility that could ignite a new war in the Middle East. Tehran denies that it has ever demanded a nuclear bomb.
Still, Tehran looked cautiously optimistic on Monday in assessing the future of the now 11-month-old talks.
“We will remain in the Vienna negotiations until our legal and logistical demands are met and a strong agreement is reached.” Ali ShamkhaniSecretary of the Supreme National Security Council, which makes decisions at the Vienna talks, said in a tweet.
iranian missile strike
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said he had discussed nuclear talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov During his visit to Moscow.
Sheikh Mohammed, who spoke from the Russian capital at a televised press conference, did not provide further details.
In addition to a halt to Vienna talks, tensions have risen as Iran fired a dozen missiles at Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region, on Sunday, in an attack that appeared to target the United States and its allies.
Iranian state media said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps carried out the attack against Israel’s “strategic centers” in Erbil, suggesting that it was in retaliation for recent Israeli airstrikes that killed Iranian military personnel in Syria. was killed.
Khatibzadeh said Tehran had repeatedly warned Iraqi officials that its territory should not be used by third parties to launch attacks against Iran.
“Iraq’s central government has a responsibility to ensure that its territory is not used as a base for third-party attacks against Iran,” Khatibzadeh said.
“At various times in the past, Iraq’s territory was used against Iran by third parties, including Kurdish terrorists, terrorist groups such as the United States and a Zionist entity,” he said, referring to Israel.
In another blow to regional diplomacy, Iran said on Sunday it was postponing a fifth round of talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia to be held this week in Baghdad.