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US chief negotiator Robert Malley (archive recording)
Photo: MAZEN MAHDI / AFP
The US government threatens Iran with consequences if the new leadership in Tehran continues to delay a solution in the negotiations on a new nuclear deal.
This was announced by US chief negotiator Robert Malley shortly before the start of new talks in Vienna.
"If they do not return to the pact, then we will clearly look at other ways to deal with Iran's nuclear aspirations - on a diplomatic and other level," Malley told the US broadcaster NPR. The Iranian chief negotiator Ali Bagheri, on the other hand, accused his Western counterparts of a lack of sincerity. "In our experience, the West does not want to implement the pact," he said in a comment in the London Financial Times.
Five months after the last round of talks, high-ranking diplomats from Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and China are coming back to the Austrian capital to mediate between representatives of Tehran and Washington. The aim is to rescue the agreement that restricted Iran's nuclear program to prevent the development of nuclear weapons. In return, western sanctions were lifted.
The United States withdrew from the pact in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump and revived sanctions that seriously damaged the Iranian economy.
Tehran then expanded its nuclear facilities, produced almost weapons-grade uranium and restricted international inspections.
Since the arch-conservative Ebrahim Raisi became president of Iran, the Islamic Republic has been pushing ahead with its nuclear program, contrary to the agreements, and putting international nuclear inspectors under pressure (read more here).
“These conversations can't go on forever.
There is an urgent need to speed up the process, ”urged Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov on Twitter.
He met Chinese and Iranian delegates for informal preliminary talks on Sunday.
as / dpa
