• Wednesday, 25 December 2024

Iran and West at odds again as nuclear talks resume in Vienna

Iran and West at odds again as nuclear talks resume in Vienna
Negotiations on new limits to Iran's nuclear programme resumed in Vienna on Thursday as Tehran and Western governments traded accusations about willingness to clinch a deal. The United States and European participants have so far failed to come up with any constructive proposals, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian said in a phone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, according to Iran's Fars news agency. "This contradicts their claim that they are negotiating seriously," he was quoted as saying. Diplomats from Washington, Berlin, Paris and London expressed similar criticism against Iran, which they say wants to undo compromises that have already been reached Talks resumed last week after several months of stalemate, and got under way on Thursday again after a five-day pause. Russia's ambassador to Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, spoke in a tweet of "tensions and some disappointment." The goal of the negotiations is to restrict Iran's nuclear programme and, in return, lift US sanctions against the Islamic Republic. This would salvage the 2015 nuclear agreement, which aims to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Washington backed out of the deal in 2018 and imposed economic sanctions, after which Tehran began producing near-weapons-grade uranium.