Iran happy with meet of nuclear deal parties
However, their efforts to protect trade with Iran against the U.S. sanctions have yielded nothing concrete.
Vienna: An emergency meeting with parties to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers was “constructive”, Iranian official Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday, but said Tehran would continue to reduce its nuclear commitments if Europeans failed to salvage the pact. “The atmosphere was constructive. Discussions were good. I cannot say that we resolved everything, I can say there are lots of commitments,” Araqchi, the senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, said.
Parties to the deal met in Vienna on Sunday for emergency talks called in response to an escalation in tensions between Iran and the West that included confrontations at sea and Tehran’s breaches of the accord.
“As we have said, we will continue to reduce our commitments to the deal until Europeans secure Iran’s interests under the deal,” Araqchi said after the meeting. Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran have been trying to salvage the pact since the United States withdrew from it in May 2018 .
The Europeans say breach of the agreement by Iran would escalate confrontation at a time when Tehran and Washington are at risk of a miscalculation that could lead to war.
However, their efforts to protect trade with Iran against the U.S. sanctions have yielded nothing concrete. Earlier this month, Tehran followed through on its threat to increase its nuclear activities in breach of the agreement.
Iran has called on Europe to accelerate its efforts.“All our steps taken so far are reversible if other parties to the deal fulfill their commitments,” an Iranian diplomat said before the meeting was to start.