https://ift.tt/wEcZxH U.S. says its indirect talks with Iran on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal made modest progress in the latest round that ended Friday, but it also says much work remains to be done to prevent what is left of the agreement between Tehran and world powers from quickly falling apart.
In a phone briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official cited two examples of “modest” progress at the talks in Vienna involving the U.S., Iran and five world powers acting as mediators between the two sides.
The first was Iran’s Wednesday agreement to let the International Atomic Energy Agency reinstall cameras that allow U.N. inspectors to observe an Iranian nuclear facility manufacturing advanced centrifuges in the city of Karaj. Those cameras were damaged in June in what Iran called an act of sabotage by its regional rival Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
The second example cited by the U.S. official is a common U.S. and Iranian understanding of a text that will serve as a basis for negotiations on what parts of Iran’s nuclear program may be curbed in return for a lifting of U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
But the U.S. official cautioned against enthusiasm over the text.
“What we have is an agenda of issues to be examined, not a set of solutions to be accepted. There still is a lot of work to do,” the official said.
The U.S. official also said Iran’s recent advances in its nuclear program that the West fears could be weaponized make it more urgent for Tehran to return to the curbs on that program previously agreed to under the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“We made some progress, but … at a pace that will not be sufficient to get to where we need to go before Iran’s nuclear advances render the JCPOA a corpse that cannot be revived,” the official said.