Iran's top negotiator: 'Good progress' made, Vienna talks to continue after a break of few days
Iran’s lead negotiator at the negotiations in the Austrian capital to remove the US sanctions says good progress has been made in Vienna this week, noting that the high-ranking talks will continue after a short break.
In a tweet on Friday morning, Ali Bagheri Kani said he met with EU deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora, who coordinates the Vienna talks, on Thursday, after consultations with other delegations.
“Following our consultations with other delegations, yesterday, @enriquemora_& I met to take stock of the situation & discuss the way forward,” Bagheri Kani wrote.
“We have made good progress this week,” he stated, adding, “We will convene a Joint Commission today & will continue talks after a break of a few days.”
‘Participants more or less relaxed’
Several rounds of consultations were held on Thursday on the sidelines of the Vienna talks as diplomats from the participating countries prepared to leave Vienna.
Russia’s top negotiator, Mikhail Ulyanov, offered brief comments about the consultations via Twitter on Thursday night.
He said the original JCPOA signatories with the exception of Iran held a meeting earlier, adding, “The participants – both optimists and skeptics – were more or less relaxed. It seems to be a good sign.”
He also said the JCPOA participants, without Iran, separately met for an informal meeting to discuss a number of issues on which “our views and assessments do not necessarily coincide.”
Bagheri Kani and Ulyanov’s positive assessment of the progress made in the Austrian capital came days after they criticized the trio of European participants – France, Britain, and Germany – for playing a blame game and adopting illogical positions instead of playing a serious, constructive role.
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