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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
London – Tehran – Asharq Al-Awsat

Tehran Insists on Red Lines in Vienna Negotiations

An Iranian woman walks near an anti-American mural on the wall of the former US embassy in Tehran on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal “will enter a new phase if red lines are respected.” In parallel, Israel called on the European parties to the agreement to send a “sharp and clear message” to the Iranians, and to oppose Tehran’s stalling in the negotiations.

In a telephone conversation with his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, Abdollahian said: “After receiving US’ opinions, if Iran’s economic benefits from the agreement are ensured and our red lines are observed, we will enter a new stage in Vienna.”

He continued: “Until everything is agreed upon, we cannot speak with certainty about reaching a good and lasting agreement.”

The Iranian foreign ministry quoted Albusaidi as saying that he hoped for satisfactory results for the Vienna Talks with the joint cooperation of all parties.

Later on Thursday, the Omani Foreign Ministry reported that Albusaidi made a phone call with the US special envoy for Iran affairs, Robert Malley, during which they discussed issues of common interest and efforts to resume the nuclear agreement.

On Monday night, Tehran announced that it had submitted its “written response to the text proposed by the European Union,” saying that an agreement would be reached if the American answer was realistic and flexible.

The official IRNA news agency reported that the remaining points of disagreement “revolve around three issues, in which America verbally expressed its flexibility in two files.” But Iran insisted that those should be included in the official text.

On the other hand, the European Union and the United States stressed that the response was subject to evaluation, and refused to specify any time frame for a response to the Iranian package.

On the sidelines of the recent talks in Vienna, a European official said that Tehran’s request to remove the name of the Revolutionary Guard from Washington’s list of foreign terrorist organizations was no longer on the table. But a senior Iranian official told Reuters that his country made proposals such as gradually lifting the sanctions imposed on the Guard.

Meanwhile, in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid underlined “the need to convey a sharp and clear message from Europe that no further concessions should be made to the Iranians,” adding that Europe must also oppose Iran’s procrastination method in dealing with the negotiations.

Lapid reiterated Israel’s opposition to reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement and lifting sanctions on Iran in return for reducing its nuclear activities.

Germany is directly involved in multilateral talks to revive the historic agreement.

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