ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Final political decisions by Iran and the US are required to conclude the nuclear deal talks and reach an agreement within days, the European Union’s top envoy said on Monday.
Enrique Mora said in a tweet on Monday evening that the talks are “no longer expert level talks” and that the time has come “in the next few days, for political decisions” to conclude the talks which have been underway in Vienna for 11 months.
Mora’s remarks come as Iranian state media reported that more talks would follow after Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani left Vienna on Monday for consultations in Iran.
On Monday, Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani stated that Iran is working towards adopting initiatives that will accelerate the process of reaching a final agreement, despite recent elements affecting the talks.
Negotiations have been recently shaken up by Russian demands.
In a phone call with his Russian counterpart on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian stressed that sanctions would not overshadow Iran’s ties with Russia, according to state media.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday requested written guarantees from the US that Ukraine-related sanctions “will not in any way harm our rights to free, fully-fledged trade and economic and investment cooperation, military-technical cooperation with Iran, “AFP reported.
Russia is a signatory to the original 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and has also played a significant role in the Vienna talks.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday said sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine were separate to the nuclear deal.
