TEHRAN, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that Iran is waiting for a U.S. response before returning to Vienna and reaching a good and lasting agreement, official news agency IRNA reported.
The pause in the Vienna talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal does not mean a dead end in the diplomatic process, Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly press conference, noting the concerned foreign ministers and top negotiators are in constant contact with each other.
"A few general but limited issues are still remaining, on which the decisions are required to be made in Washington," said Khatibzadeh.
He announced that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian is set to visit Moscow on Tuesday over the Vienna talks and crisis in Ukraine.
The Vienna talks are aimed at achieving a verifiable and committed U.S. return to 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), according to the Iranian spokesman.
Accusing the Biden administration of inaction and hesitation, Khatibzadeh said the current U.S. president has chosen to retain his predecessor Donald Trump's failed legacy as his administration's approach.
"We are at a point where everybody must help to, through a collective decision and consensus, reach a good agreement," he noted.
Iran signed the JCPOA with the world powers in July 2015. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran.
Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA, namely Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, with the United States indirectly involved, in a bid to revive the deal.
A pause in the Vienna talks was first announced on Friday in a tweet by Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, who said a pause is needed in the talks for what he called "external factors." ■
