Iran Says Awaits US Response to Nuclear Talks 'Solutions'

An Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
An Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
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Iran Says Awaits US Response to Nuclear Talks 'Solutions'

An Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
An Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

Iran said on Monday it awaited the US response to "solutions" discussed with the EU envoy for breaking a stalemate in talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal.

The European Union's coordinator for nuclear talks with Iran, Enrique Mora, held two days of discussions with Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri in Tehran last week, leading the EU to say talks had been unblocked.

The negotiations, aimed at bringing the US back into the deal and Iran to full compliance with it, had stalled for about two months.

"Serious and result-oriented negotiations with special initiatives from Iran were held," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters, according to AFP

"If the US gives its response to some of the solutions that were proposed, we can be in the position that all sides return to Vienna," where the talks are held, he added during his weekly press conference.

Iran has been engaged in direct negotiations with France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China to revive the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The US has participated indirectly.

The 2015 agreement gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic bomb -- something it has always denied wanting to do.

But the US unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and the reimposition of biting economic sanctions prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.

"If the US announces its political decision today, which we have not yet received, we can say that an important step has been taken in the progress of the negotiations," Khatibzadeh noted.

Among the sticking points is Tehran's demand to remove the Revolutionary Guards from a US terrorism list.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Friday said Mora's mission to Tehran went "better than expected" and the stalled negotiations "have been reopened."

Washington, however, has adopted a less optimistic tone. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Friday that "at this point, a deal remains far from certain."

He added: "It is up to Iran to decide whether it wants to conclude a deal quickly."

Talks on reviving the agreement began in April last year.



Three Iranians in UK Court Accused of Assisting Tehran Spy Service

A general view of London, Britain, March 23, 2022. (Reuters)
A general view of London, Britain, March 23, 2022. (Reuters)
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Three Iranians in UK Court Accused of Assisting Tehran Spy Service

A general view of London, Britain, March 23, 2022. (Reuters)
A general view of London, Britain, March 23, 2022. (Reuters)

Three Iranian men appeared in court in London on Friday accused of assisting Iran's foreign intelligence service and plotting violence against journalists working for a British-based broadcaster critical of Tehran.

The three men - Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, - have been charged with offences under Britain's National Security Act, brought in to give the authorities new powers to target threats from foreign states.

They are accused of "engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service" between August 2024 and February this year, and police have said that it related to Iran.

Sepahvand is also charged with carrying out surveillance in preparation to commit serious violence against a person, while Manesh and Noori were charged with surveillance with the intention that serious violent acts would be committed by others.

The men appeared by videolink on Friday for a brief hearing at London's Old Bailey court during which their lawyers said all intended to plead not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors told a hearing last month that the allegations involved the targeting of journalists based in Britain connected with Iran International, a broadcaster critical of the Iranian government. They were remanded in custody until a formal plea hearing on September 26 and they are due to go on trial in October next year.

The suspects were arrested last month on the same day counter-terrorism police detained five other men, including four Iranians, as part of a separate operation. Those men were later released without charge.