Vienna talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal has made significant progress in the last week, but very tough issues remain, a senior US State Department official told reporters on Friday according to Reuters.
“There’s been significant progress over the last week or two. We have significantly narrowed the areas that still need to be resolved. And so, in that sense, there has been progress that has been moving towards a potential deal,” he said. “So we are in a better position than we have been. But at the same time it’s important to note that very serious issues remain.”
The aim of the accord is to lift sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities that extend the time Tehran would need to make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb if it chose to.
Iran has getting closer than ever to reach an atomic bomb, though they said the country’s nuclear program is peaceful.
The US official said a deal, if one can be reached, would in many ways track the terms of the original accord on Iran's levels of uranium enrichment, the stockpile of enriched uranium it may hold, and the numbers of centrifuges it may operate.
However, he left open the possibility of some modifications to account the additional sanctions that then-President Donald Trump imposed on Iran after pulling the United States out of the deal in 2018.
Since the US withdrew, Iran made significant nuclear advances.
"We hope that when Iran comes back, it comes back in with a pre-disposition to try to resolve this quickly," the official said, saying there were still disagreements "for which there is not a solution that's on the table."
He also said there has not been any deal reached in separate negotiations about the release of four US citizens whom the United States believes have been wrongfully detained by Iran.
