French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday that a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers was near even though a few items had still to be settled.
"We are near an agreement," Le Drian said at a news conference in Doha. His comments came in contrast to a recent US remark on deal.
On Sunday, US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said he was not confident that a nuclear deal between world powers and the Islamic Republic was imminent, dampening expectations after 11 months of talks in Vienna that have stalled.
Negotiations are ongoing to revive a 2015 agreement that would see Tehran give up its ambitions to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for the removal of US sanctions on its economy.
A deal would also return Iranian crude oil to global energy markets in the months ahead, helping to offset market turmoil and price spikes in the wake of wide-ranging sanctions on the Russian economy following the invasion of Ukraine.
