Tehran Says US Made No Proposals for Iran Nuclear Deal at Vienna Talks

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States did not make any suggestions that could lead to the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the drafting of a new deal during the five-way talks in Vienna, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.

The seventh round of nuclear talks between Iran and Russia, China, Germany, France and the United Kingdom — a group referred to as 4+1 — as well as the European Union ended in Vienna last week.

"Despite its claims, the US has not yet made any tangible proposals or text to the G4+1," Khatibzadeh said at a press conference in Tehran, as quoted by the Fars news agency.

Iran expects the US to "offer a tangible text," in which case an agreement can be reached "in the shortest possible time," the spokesman said.

"We hope that we will reach a result if the other side removes the sanctions effectively and verifiably," Khatibzadeh said.

In 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the P5+1 group of countries — the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, plus Germany — and the European Union. It obligated Tehran to scale back its nuclear program and significantly decrease its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including the lifting of the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US withdrew from the JCPOA and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to largely abandon its own commitments.

The seventh round of the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna began on November 29. Lifting US sanctions on Tehran appeared to be the main issue of negotiations, which has not been solved at the moment, although an agreement was reached to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to replace the surveillance cameras at the TESA Karaj Complex, which could allay concerns about the nature of Tehran's nuclear program. Some of the Karaj cameras were damaged in a sabotage attack earlier this year.