The head of Iranian diplomacy said his country would announce its “final proposals” on the nuclear dossier on Monday after he said the United States had accepted two of Iran’s demands.
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Mr Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, quoted by the official Irna news agency, did not specify the requirements he was referring to.
“The US side verbally agreed to both issues (requested by Iran). We will submit our final proposals in writing by midnight,” he said.
“If our proposals are accepted, we are ready to conclude (the discussions) and announce the agreement at a meeting of foreign ministers,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
The statement comes at a time when the major powers are awaiting a response from Tehran to a proposal for an agreement put forward on July 26 by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
When asked about this on Monday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price declined to say whether the United States was ready to approve the plan put forward by the EU, saying Washington would “mr. Contact Borrell as he asked him to do so,” privately.
“What could be negotiated was negotiated,” he added, reaffirming the US position that the ball was in Tehran’s court. “The only way to achieve a mutual return to the JCPOA (…) is for Iran to drop its unacceptable demands that go well beyond the JCPOA agreement,” he said.
On Friday, Iran announced it was ready to accept the Vienna-drafted final text to save the 2015 deal, known by the acronym JCPOA, on condition that it was accompanied by a certain number of assurances.
“The JCPOA is the result of months of effort by our State Department colleagues, who admittedly, like any document, have fundamental flaws. But what matters to us is the assurance” that sanctions on Iran will be lifted, the minister added.
The State Department spokesman declined to comment Monday on whether the United States would be prepared to end sanctions in the event of an Iran deal.
After several months of deadlock, diplomats from all parties (Iran, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom and Germany), with indirect participation by the United States, returned to Vienna on August 4 to work under the aegis of the EU.
The aim of the talks is to restart the pact aimed at guaranteeing the civilian nature of Iran’s nuclear program, which despite its denial has been accused of acquiring nuclear weapons.
But after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2018 agreement under Donald Trump and the reintroduction of American sanctions, Tehran gradually freed itself from its obligations.