US Expects 'Difficult' Iran Talks, Sees No Early Breakthrough

Iran's Deputy Foreign Abbas Araghchi (C) attends a virtual meeting Friday with the Joint Commission on Iran's nuclear program. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
Iran's Deputy Foreign Abbas Araghchi (C) attends a virtual meeting Friday with the Joint Commission on Iran's nuclear program. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
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US Expects 'Difficult' Iran Talks, Sees No Early Breakthrough

Iran's Deputy Foreign Abbas Araghchi (C) attends a virtual meeting Friday with the Joint Commission on Iran's nuclear program. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
Iran's Deputy Foreign Abbas Araghchi (C) attends a virtual meeting Friday with the Joint Commission on Iran's nuclear program. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP)

The US State Department played down expectations for indirect talks that begin on Tuesday in Vienna on Washington and Tehran resuming compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying it expected the talks to be difficult.

"We don't underestimate the scale of the challenges ahead. These are early days. We don't anticipate an early or immediate breakthrough as these discussions, we fully expect, will be difficult," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters during his daily briefing on Monday.

Earlier, Iran said the outcome of the Vienna talks will depend on European parties leaning on the US to lift sanctions.

Britain, France and Germany are pushing to bring US President Joe Biden's administration back into the nuclear deal, after his predecessor Donald Trump's withdrew and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

The other participants, including China and Russia, are to meet Tuesday in-person in the Austrian capital, with the United States indirectly taking part.

"Whether the joint commission's agenda produces a result or not depends on the Europeans and the 4+1 reminding the US of its obligations and the Americans acting on their commitments," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

"How and where the 4+1 talk to the US is their own business," he told reporters, noting there will be no negotiations in Vienna.

The meeting's aim is to "talk about the path of lifting sanctions", he added.

The deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), promised Iran relief from international sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

Biden has promised to rejoin the agreement on condition that Iran first returns to nuclear commitments it suspended in response to reimposed sanctions.

Tehran, however, says Washington has to end sanctions first.

The European Union has said its mediator will hold "separate contacts" with the United States in Vienna.

According to a senior EU official, two groups of experts from the other countries will work simultaneously, with one focused on US sanctions and the other on rolling back Iran's suspended nuclear commitments.

Khatibzadeh said experts from an Iranian delegation would explain "how (we plan) to stop our remedial measures".

"We have only one step, not step-by-step, (which) includes the lifting of all US sanctions," he stressed.

"It will become clear tomorrow whether the 4+1 can realize the points expected by Iran or not, so that we would have a clearer path forward," Khatibzadeh said.

The Vienna meeting comes after a video conference of a JCPOA joint commission held on Friday.



Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, during which Pyongyang reaffirmed its support for Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, the TASS state news agency reported.

Lavrov flew out of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday following the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, arriving the same day in Wonsan, North Korea, home to a newly opened seaside resort but also known for its missile and naval facilities, reported Reuters.

Lavrov's visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries as they upgrade their strategic cooperation to now include a mutual defense pact.

"We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis ... Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support for all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as for the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces," TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine.

North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago.

Russian news agencies also reported Lavrov's arrival and said after North Korea he is expected to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

TASS said the new Wonsan coastal resort could boost Russian tourism to North Korea, citing the resumption of direct trains from Moscow to Pyongyang and a project to build a bridge across the Tumen River forming part of the boundary between North Korea, China and Russia.

TASS quoted Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying more high-level delegations would visit North Korea later this year.

Rudenko said the accord on strategic partnership "clearly meets the changing needs over recent decades and strengthens traditionally friendly, good-neighborly Russian-Korean relations to a qualitatively new level as allies."