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Vienna (dpa) - The attempts to save the nuclear deal with Iran are entering an all-important phase.
A meeting of top diplomats on Tuesday in Vienna is intended to be the start of a series of talks initially at technical expert level.
The goal is to create a roadmap that will pave the way for the US to return to the agreement and motivate Iran to come back on track.
The round is the first serious dialogue since the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, who, unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, wants to revive the agreement.
Tehran sent positive signals in advance.
Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi praised the new talks: “We are in the process of getting out of the impasse”.
The 2015 agreement is seen as an important building block for arms control.
It is supposed to prevent the Islamic Republic from building a nuclear weapon.
The prospect of economic cooperation with Iran never materialized due to the change in course under Trump.
Instead, the US reinstated sanctions because it deeply distrusted Iran.
As a result, Tehran violated more and more requirements and has since significantly increased its uranium supplies, which are necessary to build a bomb.
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The five remaining partners in the deal - Russia, China, Germany, France and Great Britain - have tried in rare unity over the past two years to keep the deal alive.
The new attempt is under time pressure.
In Iran, a new president will be elected in June.
Incumbent Hassan Ruhani is no longer allowed to run after two terms in office.
Both the election campaign and the new president or a change of the negotiating team after the election could make talks to resolve the nuclear conflict much more difficult.
According to the US government, there will initially be no direct contact between Tehran and Washington.
However, in principle one is ready to do so, it said from the White House.
From Tehran it was said: "We will not speak directly or indirectly with the USA in Vienna," said Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday.
Araghchi described the course of the meeting in Vienna planned from an Iranian point of view as follows: "We will only hold purely technical talks with 4 + 1 (the remaining contractual partners) about a return of the USA to the deal."
The representatives of the five states should then forward the results to the USA.
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One EU representative expected the effort to take more than two weeks but less than two months.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was optimistic about the deliberations.
«Can that work overnight?
It is probably possible if there is the political will, ”said Ryabkov on Monday in Moscow, according to the Interfax agency.
However, all parties would have to approach one another.
"That is quite feasible."
The main criticism of the old US administration of the agreement was its time limit.
Iran's ballistic missile program and its arms exports to Shiite groups in the region and to the Syrian leadership also contributed to the mistrust.
The "Wall Street Journal" reported that the Biden government wanted to negotiate a follow-up agreement with the leadership in Tehran on these points.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210405-99-92670 / 2