NOURNEWS – Following the eighth day of the eighth round of talks in Vienna, Austria, to lift anti-Iran sanctions, negotiating teams have unanimously mentioned that the negotiations for reaching a consensus are on the track of progress.
Besides Russia and China, European sides (Britain, France and Germany) have also asserted positive evaluation on the pace of Vienna talks.
A European official said on condition of anonymity Thursday night that the Joint Commission meetings of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are going ahead step-by-step, and that remarkable progress has not been made so far, but the atmosphere is positive and delegations are trying hard to reach a final agreement.
A few minutes earlier, Chinese and Russian top negotiators uttered the same assessment of the negotiations.
Wang Qun, Chinese envoy to the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations in Vienna, said after the end of Thursday's meeting that the negotiating teams are following up talks to reach a consensus.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, noted that in accordance with Moscow’s assessment, the delegations can reach a final agreement until February.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani said Wednesday night that the negotiations are positively progressing and parties involved in the Vienna talks are laboring hard to reach a final consensus.
He also underlined that lifting cruel anti-Iran sanctions will secure access to any agreement and that the other side’s seriousness to remove sanctions and Iranians’ mechanism in particular for verification and assurances will pave the way for reaching an agreement in a shorter period.
Given the fact that representatives from Iran, the European Union and the P4+1 group of countries (Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany) have continued the Vienna talks for lifting sanctions and reviving the JCPOA for more than a month, the negotiating teams and their countries show their willingness to pave the ground for reaching a final agreement.
The representatives of the P4+1 left Palais Coburg after their Thursday meeting with the Iranian delegation to discuss with the American team at Vienna Marriott Hotel.
Ulyanov wrote on his Twitter account: “We had a targeted discussion of one of the most difficult issues on the agenda of #ViennaTalks.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahhian stated on Thursday that the Islamic Republic seeks assurances, which include preventing from the imposition of new sanctions and re-imposition of lifted ones.
If the Western sides show seriousness, reaching a good agreement is possible, he added.
NOURNEWS