Russian Deputy Foreign Minister says the chances to reach an agreement in Vienna on removing the US sanctions on Iran have increased.

Iran PressIran news: The Vienna talks to remove the US sanctions on Iran are facilitating and the chances for reaching a solution have increased, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated on Monday after the Russian-US talks.

"The Vienna talks have speeded up. We believe that the chances to reach a solution within the framework that had been developed during the previous rounds, including six rounds held until June 20, have increased. This is a positive thing. All parties are demonstrating readiness to solve the remaining problems," the deputy foreign minister noted, according to Tass.

Ryabkov also mentioned that "various schemes were possible" for reaching the ultimate goal, the restoration of the Iranian nuclear deal in its original form. "A step-by-step approach based on reciprocity [is likely to be used] to achieve the main goal," the senior diplomat pointed out.

"I would like to emphasize that possible intermediate steps are not going to replace, substitute the basic agreement, which needs to be fully restored. The Russian side proceeds from this, while providing political and diplomatic assistance to <…> Iranians, Americans and Europeans," Ryabkov stated. As the diplomat said, he also sees no need for setting any deadlines for reaching a final decision on the Iranian nuclear deal.

Iran and the P4+1 group of countries – Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China – resumed talks in Vienna on January 3 after the parties took a three-day break for the New Year. The US is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the deal with Iran.

The eighth round of the Vienna talks began on December 27 with a focus on the removal of all sanctions that the United States imposed on Iran following its unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) three years after the deal was inked.

 

Meanwhile, the London-based Rai al-Youm newspaper reported that the negotiating sides have reached a two-year deal in the Austrian capital, according to which the US would lift all sanctions placed on Iran by the administration of the former US President Donald Trump. According to the agreement, the paper claimed, Iran will keep its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, centrifuges, and uranium metal, which it produced after the US withdrawal from the Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

However, an informed source close to the Iranian delegation at the Vienna talks on the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran says the report about an agreement reached by participants in the negotiations is not true.

The informed source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Sunday that Rai al-Youm’s report is “incorrect and fake.”

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