European Union’s Enrique Mora (C) and Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani (R) at the Vienna nuclear talks, December 9, 2021 (AFP/Getty)

UPDATE, FEB 9:

Iran nuclear talks resumed on Tuesday in Vienna after a 10-day break.

Delegations gave little away, after US and European officials said the discussions are “reaching a final stage” and Iranian officials restated the condition over the weekend that all American sanctions must be lifted with guarantees that they will not be reimposed.

The talks restarted on Tuesday with a session between the European Union’s broker, Enrique Mora, and Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani. The Iranians then had separate meetings with China, Russia, and the European nations — the UK, France, and Germany — in the 2015 deal.

Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, snapped on Wednesday:

UPDATE, FEB 7:

Despite diplomats speaking of Iran nuclear talks reaching the “final stage”, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has declared that the US has not yet put forward a “serious initiative”.

Throughout the weekend, Amir-Abdollahian has been downplaying the Biden Administration’s reinstitution of sanctions waivers for foreign companies working on Iran nuclear sites, bringing them into compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

See also Biden Administration Allows Foreign Companies to Renew Work at Iran Nuclear Sites

“We have not seen any serious and notable initiative from the US. What is important for us is the opposite side’s action,” the Foreign Minister said on Sunday with State broadcaster IRIB. “We look at what happens on the ground. We have to see the Americans’ practical behavior regarding the sanctions removal in an objective and tangible manner.”

Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, also said on Sunday that the discussions are far from resolution.

A European diplomat said that the Vienna negotiations will resume on Tuesday.

UPDATE, JAN 31:

French President Emmanuel Macron told Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday night that the Vienna talks for a renewed Iran nuclear deal must be accelerated.

Macron’s office said in a statement on Sunday about the phone call:

The President of the Republic reiterated his conviction that a diplomatic solution is possible and imperative, and stressed that any agreement will require clear and sufficient commitments from all the parties.

Several months after the resumption of negotiations in Vienna, he insisted on the need to accelerate in order to quickly achieve tangible progress in this framework.

He underlined the need for Iran to demonstrate a constructive approach and return to the full implementation of its obligations.

Earlier on Sunday, Raisi and Iranian State outlets omitted Macron’s statement in their accounts of the discussion.

Raisi claimed, “The French President stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran has the right to distrust the United States because it was the United States that caused the crisis.” Outlets such as Press TV and Tasnim repeated the sentence while featuring Raisi’s line:

The Islamic Republic of Iran has shown its will and seriousness to reach an agreement in the negotiation process, and any effort by the other side in this regard should include the lifting of the sanctions, verification and valid guarantees.

Macron asked for the immediate release of two political prisoners: Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, returned to detention this month, and French tourist Benjamin Briere, sentenced last Tuesday to eight years in prison for flying a drone near the Iran-Turkmenistan border.

See also British Council’s Amiri Released But French-Iranian Academic Adelkhah Returned to Iran Prison
French Tourist Briere Sentenced to 8 Years in Iran Prison

The Supreme Leader, repeating his insistance that Iran can be self-sufficient with a “Resistance Economy”, told an audience on Sunday, “You should not condition the country’s economy and economic activities. Do not pause over something that is not in our hands.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY, JAN 29: European participants in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal say the Vienna talks on the agreement’s renewal are “reaching the final stage”, as delegations return this weekend to national capitals for consultations.

The UK, Germany, and France issued the statement on Friday after another long day of discussions over a draft text for US re-entry into the agreement, which also includes Russia and China; the lifting of American sanctions; and Iran’s return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Enrique Mora, the European Union’s broker of the negotiations, tweeted:

As US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan conferred with his Israeli counterparts, American officials said this week that a resolution had to be reached by mid-February.

US to Israel: “Preparing Alternative Options” if Iran Nuclear Talks Fail
“Modest Progress” in Iran Nuclear Talks But Significant Gaps Remain

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told Parliament on Wednesday that Tehran is resolved to complete a good, lasting agreement. On Friday, he spoke with UN Secretary General António Guterres about the “positive” process in Vienna, while putting the onus on the US and European power for “practical and tangible measures to reach a sustainable and reliable agreement”.

A French official was guarded, saying that the talks remain “difficult because the question of guarantees and the modalities to put Iran’s nuclear program back under control need to be clarified, but there are a few indications that the negotiation can conclude” positively.

A “Western diplomat” indicated that progress had been made on the lifting of sanctions and Iran’s return to compliance; however, the talks over sequencing those steps are proceeding “at a sluggish pace”.