Iran says nuclear talks with US to restart 'this week'

Indirect talks between Iran and the US aimed at salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal will resume this week, Tehran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said today, but not in Vienna where the discussions had been based.

"The exact time and place of the talks are not yet certain," Khatibzadeh told reporters. "But, god willing, the talks will restart this week, and take place in one of the regional countries." He said more detail would be announced on the venue and timing of the talks "within the coming hours."

Khatibzadeh's comments narrow down a timeline given by Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian over the weekend following a meeting with the EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell in Tehran. Borrell flew into the Iranian capital on 24 June as part of a renewed push by the EU to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table and break a more than three-month deadlock that had thrown prospects of a return to the deal seriously in doubt.

The EU has acted as an intermediary in the indirect talks between the two sides to revive the agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), since they began in Vienna more than a year ago. These talks ground to a halt in early March, just as all parties were saying an agreement was close. Iran's foreign ministry at the time said a deal was "above 98pc" done.

The process initially hit a roadblock after Russia demanded a waiver from sanctions imposed on it, because of its invasion of Ukraine, to allow it to continue its nuclear co-operation with Iran. Moscow withdrew the demand soon after. But by that point further cracks had appeared, in the shape of demands by Iran for the US to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its list of foreign terrorist organizations and give guarantees that Tehran will benefit fully from the economic gains promised to it under the deal.

Khatibzadeh said the upcoming round of talks "will follow the same format" as those in Vienna, in that Iran and the US will not be in direct communication with one another and focus only on "the few issues" that remain regarding the lifting of sanctions on Iran.

"Let everybody know that the ball is now in Washington's court," he said. "If it comes with an answer, be sure that we can [arrive at an agreement] very quickly."

A restoration of the JCPOA in its original form would remove US sanctions on Iran's oil sector and could add 1.3mn-1.4mn b/d of the country's crude to global supply within 6-9 months of its implementation, according to Argus estimates.

By Nader Itayim