Washington tones down expectations of Vienna Talks
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Alaina
- . April 10, 2021
- . Update: April 10, 2021 2:37 pm
WASHINGTON: The U.S. State Department, on Thursday, has toned down expectations for talks on how Tehran and Washington might resume the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and has said that the U.S. envoy was likely to come back home as the talks pause for the weekend.
While speculating descriptions of the talks as “constructive” are on all around, State Department spokesman Ned Price told the press “we would also, however, hurtle to not allow expectations to move ahead of where we are.”
A joint commission tasked with overseeing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is currently finding a way for the US to get back in compliance with the agreement – halted under Donald Trump – and lift sanctions on Tehran, and for the latter to end its breaching of the limits on its nuclear programme. Throughout this week, experts from Iran, Germany, France, the UK, China, Russia, and the EU have been meeting in Grand Hotel Vienna. They have been relaying messages to the US delegation in a neighbouring hotel.
On Friday, the joint commission will get together to review the progress that has been made in order to further the talks on reviving the deal, which ended economic sanctions on Iran in return for limits to its nuclear programme. It took 76 days for Joe Biden to see the talks start, partly because both sides to time to go through backchannels to agree on a format, agenda and square domestic support.
On Monday, Tehran and Washington agreed that they had two lists to compile. First, they have to agree on an inventory of the sanctions that Washington needs to lift to come back into compliance with the nuclear deal. Second, they need to marshal a list of the constraints that Iran has to readopt to return to compliance.
