Nuclear Deal Talks With Iran in Vienna to Resume Next Week, Russian Envoy Says

"The round is not completed. The seventh round will continue. The participants simply decided to take a technical break, in particular, for consultations in their capitals, to think over how to form further work", Ulyanov told reporters.

The Russian official added that when the talks resume next week, the acuteness of the situation will hopefully decrease.

Ulyanov noted that Tehran's desire to avoid a collapse of the JCPOA is justified and reasonable, so, if Iran needs additional guarantees, it may be discussed.

"The requirement of the Iranians for guarantees is absolutely clear and justified. There must be a certainty that the malicious experiment which was done under [ex-US President] Donald Trump with the maximum pressure policy, additional sanctions, will not be repeated. All this must be subject to discussions", Ulyanov told reporters.

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidential office on April 10, 2021, shows a grab of a videoconference screen of an enginere inside Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant, shown during a ceremony headed by the country's president on Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day, in the capital Tehran

"We can put a positive spin on the joint statement by the US, UK, German, and French leaders on 30 October, where a sentence by [US] President Joe Biden is included about the readiness of the US to respect the restored nuclear deal as long as Iran will do it. Maybe this is an element of a political guarantee. It is just needed to write it down as part of the negotiation process", Ulyanov said.

He also mentioned the Iranian offer to change the draft document, which caused a sharp reaction by nations in the West.

"As I understand, our Western partners were under a strong impression that the Iranian side proposed to change substantially, make radical amendments to the draft nuclear document, which was agreed during the six previous rounds. It seemed to them [the Western partners] that this approach is too radical, that is why such a sharp reaction appeared", Ulyanov told reporters.

The Russian official additionally noted that there is a rule at the nuclear talks in Vienna, that goes as follows: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

"Meaning that amendments, changes in position are always possible. But it is desirable that these amendments are calibrated and do not turn into an obstacle in the path to progress. Therefore, we are not dramatising the situation", the diplomat added.

In this June 6, 2018 frame grab from Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting, IRIB, state-run TV, three versions of domestically-built centrifuges are shown in a live TV program from Natanz, an Iranian uranium enrichment plant, in Iran

On Monday, another round of talks with Iran on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) began in the Austrian capital. The issue of lifting the US sanctions from Iran was the main topic of discussion.

In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear deal, known officially as the JCPOA with the P5+1 group, which includes the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union. It required Tehran to scale back its nuclear programme and drastically reduce its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief. In May 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance, withdrawing from the JCPOA and enacting hardline policies against Iran, prompting the latter to largely abandon its own obligations under the accord.

Since April, Vienna has been hosting talks aimed at preventing the Iran nuclear deal from completely falling apart.