Signs Emerge Of A Softer Iranian Approach In Nuclear Talks

Mikhail Ulyanov described the atmosphere of this week's talks as much more constructive compared to last week when he said time was wasted. "No demarches… Just normal business-like dialogue," Ulyanov said after a meeting of delegations in an apparent reference to the Iranian negotiators' approach last week.

"We are on the right track, we don't waste time, we maintain dialogue, we arrange meetings at expert level, at higher level, like this one," he said, adding that he was "fully satisfied".

He also noted that as far as he knows, US President Joe Biden is "fully committed to successful conclusion of these talks" and that Biden and Vladimir Putin both want the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to be restored. Ulyanov also said the European Union's External Service was "doing a great job" as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.

Ulyanov stressed that talks are based on the text prepared in June after the six rounds of talks before the Iranian elections. President Ebrahim Raisi’s hardliner government trying to disregard understandings reached in talks during the former Iranian administration insists that current negotiations are based on two texts it presented to the other negotiators last week.

The Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool Sunday warned Tehran that time is running out to revive the JCPOA. The final communique from the G7 meeting said Iran "must stop its nuclear escalation and seize the opportunity to conclude a deal, while this is still possible.”

Britain, the current rotating president of G7, said the nuclear talks in Vienna that resumed after a five-month hiatus were the Islamic Republic's "last chance to come to the negotiating table with a serious resolution".

"There is still time for Iran to come and agree this deal," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told a press conference Sunday while emphasizing that the Islamic Republic will not be allowed to build a nuclear bomb.

Truss was the first among the officials of the JCPOA signatories to give a clear ultimatum to Tehran last week and she repeated the warning on Sunday.

A senior US State Department official said Saturday there was an "intense" conversation among the G7 countries, which were united in their position on the nuclear talks, adding that “time is shrinking, so we're united in that.”

Speaking after meetings with her G7 counterparts in Liverpool, Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock Saturday told reporters that time was running out to revive the nuclear deal with Iran and complained that it had shown in the last days that no progress had been made.

Iran's top negotiator, Ali Bagheri-Kani told the state-run Press TV Sunday that European countries had failed to offer any constructive initiative or proposal. "European parties fail to come up with any initiatives to resolve differences over the removal of sanctions," he said.

Bagheri-Kani also told Press TV that unresolved differences over sanctions have remained from the previous talks held before President Ebrahim Raisi's election. The differences, especially on the nuclear issue, are numerous and varied,” he said.

Bagheri-Kani also told Lebanon's pro-Iranian Al Mayadeen TV Sunday that Tehran's approach during the recent negotiations was successful and good progress was made which will pave the way for "serious negotiations".

"This is the last chance for Iran to come to the negotiating table with a serious resolution to this issue, which has to be agreeing the terms of the JCPOA," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.

"This is their last chance, and it is vital that they do so. We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon."

Truss had sent the same message to Tehran on December 8, saying “This is really the last chance for Iran to sign up and I strongly urge them to do that because we are determined to work with our allies to prevent Iran securing nuclear weapons," she told the Chatham House think tank.

Negotiation to revive the JCPOA resumed Thursday amid pessimism over Iran’s readiness to embrace understandings reached in earlier talks this year. The new hardliner government in Tehran has adopted a tougher position since after a 5-month interruption the talks reconvened on November 29.

Germany's foreign minister warned Saturday that time was running out to revive the nuclear deal. She was speaking after meetings with her G7 counterparts.

Talks have resumed in Vienna to try to revive the 2015 nuclear pact (JCPOA), with both sides trying to gauge the prospects of success after the latest exchanges in the stop-start negotiations.

Iran has presented a tougher position, making new demands, including the removal of all post-2018 US sanctions at once before it would scale back its revamped nuclear program.

"Time is running out," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters in Liverpool, England where G7 foreign ministers are meeting.

"It has shown in the last days that we do not have any progress."

Baerbock said Iran had resumed the talks with a position that set the negotiations back six months. The current round of talks in Vienna follow a pause of five months after the election of a hardline anti-Westerner as Iran's president, Ebrahim Raisi.

Earlier, US officials said Secretary of State Antony Blinken had held a "productive" meeting with counterparts from Britain, Germany and France on Friday, discussing the way forward for the Iran talks.

A senior State Department official said there was an "intense" conversation among the G7 countries, which were united in their position on the nuclear talks. "The statement will also be strong on the importance of getting Iran back to the table and that it is possible to conclude a deal but that the time is shrinking, so we're united in that," the official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, said.

The official added that US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley was heading back to Vienna for talks.

Iranian officials have previously said they were sticking to their tough stance.

Under the original nuclear deal, abandoned in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from U.S., European Union and UN sanctions. The West fears the program would be used to develop weapons, something Tehran denies.

Raisi said on Saturday that Tehran was serious in its nuclear talks in Vienna, the official IRNA news agency reported, but Iranian media have insisted that Iran has not softened its position and remains on what it proposed after talks resumed on November 29. Western negotiators rejected the Iranian position with dismay after the first round of talks ended on December 3.

The indirect US-Iranian talks, in which diplomats from France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China shuttle between them because Tehran refuses direct contact with Washington, aim to get both sides to resume full compliance with the accord.

The G7 meeting which is expected to result in a joint call for Iran to moderate its nuclear program and grasp the opportunity of the Vienna talks.

Reporting by Reuters

US and Israel this week said they are considering joint military drills to prepare for action against Iran if current nuclear negotiations fail and political leaders decide to act to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Nour News close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saturday in a brief report quoted a military official as saying that Iranian commanders would take an attack as an opportunity to test their missiles “on real targets, to extract a heavy price from aggressors who would violate the territory of the Islamic Republic.”

The military official also mentioned the January 8, 2020 ballistic missile attack on the Ain al Asad base in Iran hosting US troops and the concussion more than one hundred US troops received. He said he does not believe these soldiers would be willing to attack Iran.

Israeli officials have been reiterating that if a new nuclear agreement does not block Iran from its path to acquire nuclear arms, Israel has to ensure its security in any way possible, without seeking approval by the United States.

Talks between Iran and world powers over reviving a 2015 nuclear deal resumed in Vienna on Thursday.

"Secretary Blinken had a productive meeting with his E3 counterparts from Germany, France, and the UK in Liverpool yesterday. They discussed the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) talks and our way forward,” a State Department spokesperson said on Saturday.

After months of negotiations earlier this year, Iran’s new hardline government presented new demands in talks last week that led to pessimism over the outcome of diplomatic efforts to revive the JCPOA. The United States and its European allies have warned Iran that there little time left to reach an agreement, given Iran rapid nuclear advances.

The meeting took place in the northern English city of Liverpool on the eve of a G7 foreign ministers' meeting which is expected to result in a joint call for Iran to moderate its nuclear program and grasp the opportunity of talks in Vienna.

Reporting by Reuters