Discussions on nuclear deals are making progress, Iran and the United States say

Talks on the Iranian nuclear deal in Vienna reached more positive levels on Monday, officials said, while Tehran and Washington continue indirect negotiations in hopes of reviving the 2015 agreement that lifted economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

“We are on the right track and some progress has been made, but this does not mean that the talks in Vienna have reached the final stage,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference. in Tehran.

US officials say there were no findings, but described the indirect talks as “detailed” and “thoughtful”. Reports say diplomats could even work out an interim agreement that would give all parties more time to resolve some of the more complicated technical issues.

Negotiations are beginning to accelerate, even as Iran announces other breaches of the agreement – its most significant commitment last week to start enriching uranium to 60% purity, which would bring the fissile material closer to the levels needed for a bomb. Uranium enrichment must be 90% to produce a bomb – the limit in the 2015 agreement was 3.67%.

The move is “a violation of Iran’s attempt to turn it into a lever in the Vienna negotiations,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a member of the Democracy Foundation, told CNBC. While the move is aimed at strengthening Tehran’s hand, it could also withdraw, analysts warn.

On April 10, Iran launched advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges to mark its national “Nuclear Day”, while its president Hassan Rouhani reiterated the country’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation. Conflicting messages on state television were followed by an explosion at Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility just a day later – which Tehran called an “act of nuclear terrorism” and blamed Israel. Israel has publicly refused to confirm or deny any responsibility.

“I think this will definitely go away, you will probably see that the cyber war will heat up between these two countries in the next few months and we may see more talk about the talks in the next few months,” Ben Taleblu said.

“And in the meantime, although there are more cyber attacks and more talk, you can almost guarantee that sites like Natanz will do everything they can to continue producing.”

However, all parties continue to seek a US return to the agreement that the former Trump administration abandoned in 2018, after which it imposed crippling sanctions on the Iranian economy. The United States also wants to see Iran return to full compliance before lifting sanctions, which becomes more complicated with each new Tehran enrichment press.

Throughout the talks, Iranian officials have essentially taken a tough approach – they want Washington to lift all sanctions before it returns to compliance. The Biden team has expressed a desire to remove all sanctions that are incompatible with the agreement, but has not yet specified exactly what that means.

Officials on all sides described the mutual desire to move towards simultaneous and sequential steps to cross this line. But at this point, there is still much more to do.

At the same time, the International Atomic Energy Agency has begun separate talks with Iran on traces of uranium that the agency found in undeclared locations in the country. The agency wants to understand where the traces are coming from and ensure that Iran does not divert material to produce a nuclear weapon, which would be a major blow to the apparent progress of talks so far. Iran insists this is not the case.

Leading EU diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday: “I think both sides are really interested in reaching an agreement and have gone from general to more focused issues, which are clearly, on the one hand, the lifting of sanctions and, on the other hand, nuclear implementation issues. “

“The US joining the JCPOA and returning to full implementation of the agreement would make the world much safer,” Borrell said.