The nuclear file .. Vienna talks enter the stage of details, and Iranian officials do not rule out a temporary agreement

The ongoing talks in Vienna with the aim of reviving the nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers have made progress, with the parties participating in it confirming that tangible progress has been made on the road to reaching understandings that will return Washington and Tehran to the agreement concluded in 2015, at a time when Iranian officials spoke about the possibility of concluding an interim agreement.

The Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that negotiations will be held later today, Tuesday, in the Austrian capital, Vienna, at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the countries concerned with the agreement.

Diplomatic sources said that the working groups will discuss in Vienna the technical issues related to the US sanctions that could be lifted and the corresponding Iranian steps to return to fully adhering to the agreement.

After nearly two weeks of indirect talks about the steps that must be taken in order for the United States to return to the agreement from which the administration of former US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018, and the lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for its commitment again to all its provisions, it emerged that there is a positive atmosphere prevailing in these meetings that participate It includes the parties to the agreement, which are Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China.

Participants also indicated that the talks have reached the stage of formulation and discussion of details.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference in Tehran that there was some progress in the Vienna talks, adding that they were on the right track, but said that did not mean that they had reached the final stage.

A final step to lift sanctions

For his part, the chief Iranian negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, said that what is being negotiated in Vienna is the final step for lifting all US sanctions, and that Iran does not support an urgent and ill-considered result, and completely rejects the principle of step by step.

Araghchi, an assistant to the Iranian foreign minister, confirmed that the final decision will be taken in Tehran, and that officials there are aware of the details of what is happening in Vienna.

While the chief Iranian negotiator said that there is no negotiation on an interim agreement in Vienna, and that what is published in this area is incorrect, Reuters quoted Iranian officials that the Vienna talks may result in an interim agreement to allow diplomacy to seek a permanent settlement.

An Iranian official said that if a political agreement is reached on technical steps to lift all sanctions, Tehran may suspend uranium enrichment at a high purity rate in exchange for releasing about $ 20 billion of its oil revenues frozen in countries such as South Korea, Iraq and China under the US sanctions regime in effect since 2018.

On the Vienna talks, a US State Department spokesman said that the US team is exploring concrete means related to the steps that Iran and the United States should take to return to their mutual commitment to the 2015 agreement.

He described the ongoing discussions as comprehensive and in-depth, and he expected the delegations to return to their countries for consultations at some stage, without specifying a date for that.

Detailed discussions

In a related development, the High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security of the European Union, Josep Borrell, said that he sees a desire to save the Iran nuclear deal, and indicated progress in the talks, which he said had moved from general matters to the most detailed.

For its part, the German Foreign Ministry confirmed progress in the talks, and said that many open questions may take several rounds of talks, adding that the three European signatories to the agreement (Germany, France and Britain) are determined to continue the talks.

As for the Russian representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, he said that the Vienna negotiations had entered the formulation stage.

He added in a tweet on Twitter that after two weeks of deliberations, practical solutions are still far away, but the discussions moved from general words to agreeing on specific steps towards the goal, as he put it.

Ulyanov also said that Russia and the United States held useful consultations in Vienna regarding the lifting of US sanctions and Iran's return to full implementation of its obligations under the nuclear deal.

Effects of uranium

Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency began talks in Vienna with Iran with the aim of obtaining explanations from Tehran about the traces of uranium found at undisclosed inspection sites.

During the past two years, IAEA inspectors found traces of treated uranium in 3 sites that Tehran had not disclosed to censorship.

The agency wants to trace the origin of these materials to ensure that Iran is not diverting any of them to build nuclear weapons.

Iran recently raised the level of uranium enrichment to 60% in response to the exposure of the Natanz facility in Isfahan to what it described as sabotage, noting that the enrichment rate permitted by the nuclear agreement is only 3%.