Iran Says Some of Its Demands on Sanctions not Yet Addressed in Talks

Some of Iran's demands over lifting economic sanctions against it have not yet been addressed in the nuclear talks in Vienna, Iran's foreign minister said on Monday in Tehran. "In the latest texts obtained from the Vienna talks, part of our demands for the lifting of sanctions have not yet been addressed," Hossein Amirabdollahian said during a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart.

Indirect talks in Vienna between Iran and the United States on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Tuesday, the European Union, which is coordinating the talks, confirmed on Monday.
"Following a short break, the 8th round of negotiations in Vienna in the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will resume tomorrow, on Tuesday 8 February," the EU said in a statement. Envoys headed home 10 days ago to ask their bosses to help resolve the thorniest remaining issues.

Also, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley on Sunday said he would soon return to Vienna for the next round of talks on returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, insisting it could still be revived.
The Biden administration has been trying to revive the deal, which lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities until former President Donald Trump pulled Washington out in 2018. Iran later breached many of the deal's nuclear restrictions and kept pushing well beyond them.

"President (Joe) Biden still wants us to negotiate in Vienna," Malley told MSNBC in an interview on Sunday night. "We'll come back next week. That's a symbol or a sign of our continued belief that it is not a dead corpse - that we need to revive it because it is in our interest." Malley appeared to be referring to the coming week. A State Department spokesperson was not available to clarify when the talks would resume.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a European official said top envoys to the Vienna talks - which are indirect because Iran has refused to sit down with U.S. diplomats - were likely to meet on Tuesday in the Austrian capital. Diplomats and analysts say the longer Iran remains outside the deal, the more nuclear expertise it will gain, shortening the time it might need to race to build a bomb if it chose to, thereby undermining the accord's original purpose.

Iran denies it has ever sought to develop nuclear arms.

On Friday, the United States restored sanctions waivers allowing international nuclear cooperation with Iran on projects designed to make it harder for Iran's nuclear sites to be used to develop weapons, although a senior State Department official said that was not a signal Washington was on the verge of reaching an agreement. - Reuters