Iran calls Doha nuke talks 'positive', says looking for good deal if US acts realistically

Iran has described as “positive” the latest round of talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal held in the Qatari capital of Doha earlier this week. According to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Tehran was determined to reach a “good, robust and lasting agreement” which is at hand “if the United States acts realistically”. Speaking to IRNA news, he further reaffirmed that his country will remain in close contact with the EU to implement the next round of discussions.

"If the American side has serious intentions and is realistic, an agreement is available at this stage and in this round of negotiations," Abdollahian was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. 

Notably, Tehran has refused to hold direct talks with Washington and therefore, all rounds of negotiations are being held with the cooperation of the European Union. On Thursday, NBC News reported that several rounds of “intense” messages were passed back and forth between Iran’s Chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and President Joe Biden’s special envoy Rob Malley. Regardless, the EU envoy Enrique Mora in an online statement denied any progress. 

“Unfortunately, not yet the progress the EU team as coordinator had hoped for. We will keep working with even greater urgency to bring back on track a key deal for non-proliferation and regional stability,” he wrote in an online statement.

'No progress': US

Mora's stance was echoed by the White House. NBC News cited a State Department Spokesperson as saying that "no progress" was made in reviving the stalled deal. “In Doha, as before, we made clear our readiness to quickly conclude and implement a deal. “Yet in Doha, as before, Iran raised issues wholly unrelated to the JCPOA and apparently is not ready to make a fundamental decision on whether it wants to revive the deal or bury it,” he said, pinning the blame on the Islamic Republic. 

Meanwhile, Abdollahian also thanked Qatar for hosting the discussions. Last week, Iran and the European Union (EU) had announced the resumption of negotiations to revive the long-stalled Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear pact. It came as EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Advisor Josep Borrell held in-person discussions with Iranian officials in Tehran about the deal that could change the power dynamics in west Asia. In the aftermath, Borrell attended a joint press conference alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Abdollahian wherein he said that the talks will resume “quickly” and “immediately”, adding that the US and Iran talks to revive JCPOA talks will take place somewhere closer to the Gulf and not in Vienna.

(File Image: AP)