VIENNA: Talks with European powers on an economic package aimed at salvaging the Iran nuclear deal will continue after a round of discussions that took place in Vienna on Friday, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said.
“For the time being we are negotiating... to see if they can provide us with a package which can actually give Iran the benefits of sanctions-lifting and then the next step is to find guarantees for that package and we need both legal and political commitments by the remaining participants in the JCPOA (deal),” Abbas Araqchi told reporters.
He was speaking after the meeting with counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
Iran wants European powers to give it a package of economic measures by the end of the month to compensate for the US withdrawal from their 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, a senior Iranian official said on Friday.
“We expect the package to be given to us by the end of May,” the official told reporters before talks in Vienna with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
He added that Tehran would decide within the next few weeks whether to stay in the accord.
The Russian president Vladimir Putin said that not all is lost yet regarding the 5+1 Iran nuclear deal after US withdrawal. He added that world powers must leave the door open for talks.
Putin was reacting to the meeting in Vienna where Iran, Germany, UK, China, France and Russia tried Friday to salvage what could be salvaged from the deal that saw the lifting of sanctions on Iran.
The UN atomic watchdog policing the nuclear accord said on Thursday that Iran is still complying with the terms of the deal despite the US withdrawal, but that it could be faster and more proactive in allowing snap inspections.
The official said that if they were unhappy with how things panned out they would seek a ministerial meeting and then decide.
“I am personally maybe not optimistic but ... I am trying my best to come to a conclusion,” he said.
He said European measures would need in large part to ensure that oil exports remained the same and that the SWIFT international payments messaging system continued to work for Iran.
