Moscow expected progress in the Vienna negotiations aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers, despite the stumbling blocks that these talks are still witnessing, while Tehran affirmed its desire to reach a good agreement.
On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that his country had reasons to expect progress in the Iran nuclear talks.
In a press statement, Ryabkov added that Iran's proposals for the comprehensive plan of action reflect its utmost seriousness to resume the nuclear deal.
He added that Moscow made it clear to Washington that Iran's continued threat of sanctions during the course of the Vienna negotiations is not constructive.
Simultaneously, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that negotiators were able to reconcile Iran's new ideas with the need to continue talks.
On Sunday, Ulyanov confirmed that experts are working on preparing the text of a final agreement in the Iranian nuclear negotiations.
Iran recently submitted two proposals for negotiation, one on sanctions and the other on negotiations related to its nuclear activities, and the Americans and Europeans saw that the two proposals constitute a regression from what was reached in the previous six rounds.
While a European official confirmed two days ago that Iran had agreed that the document reached at the last June session be among the outcomes of the sixth round of talks, Tehran denied that it had retracted the two proposals it presented in the framework of the seventh round that is currently taking place.
Desire for a good deal
And the official Iranian news agency quoted the chief Iranian negotiator, Ali Bagheri, as saying yesterday evening, Sunday, after a meeting with the Russian and Chinese delegations in Vienna, that his country will continue serious and intense interaction in the Vienna negotiations to reach a good agreement.
Hours before that, Bagheri said that the positions emanating from Britain, France and Germany reflect their contradictory behavior, accusing the European trio of failing to present any proposal or constructive initiative.
For his part, a source in the Iranian negotiating delegation in Vienna told Al Jazeera that negotiations are continuing in earnest, and are dealing with Iranian proposals.
The Iranian source stated that the European trio presents "exaggerated" points that slow down the progress of the negotiations, stressing that Tehran strongly rejects European pressure to include demands from outside the nuclear agreement.
The chief Iranian negotiator, Ali Bagheri, had said earlier that his country would not accept anything less than the 2015 agreement, noting that this is a red line for Tehran.
In the past few days, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other Iranian officials have confirmed that a satisfactory agreement is possible provided that sanctions are lifted on their country.
It is noteworthy that indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States resumed - with the mediation of the Europeans in particular - at the end of last November in Vienna, in an attempt to save the nuclear agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
The 2015 agreement enabled the lifting of many sanctions imposed on Tehran, in exchange for restricting its nuclear activities and ensuring the peacefulness of its programme.
stop nuclear escalation
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of the seven countries reiterated on Sunday the need for Iran to stop its nuclear escalation, in reference to Iran's nuclear activities in violation of the 2015 agreement, including the enrichment of uranium to 20% instead of the 3% allowed by the agreement.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the Vienna talks represented the last chance for Tehran to return to the nuclear deal negotiating table.
She added - on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministers summit in Liverpool - that these countries will not allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon.
The British minister also urged Tehran to make what she described as a serious offer at the negotiating table, and said that it still had time to do so.
Possible Israeli attack
In the midst of the very complicated Vienna talks, Israeli media are talking about Tel Aviv entering the stage of military readiness to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.
The newspaper "Yediot Aharonot" quoted a senior official that there is no American opposition to an Israeli attack on Iran.
As for the Haaretz newspaper, it reported that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered the army, on Saturday, to prepare for the possibility of a military strike on Iran.
While the "Jerusalem Post" newspaper reported that Gantz put the Americans - during his meeting with them last Thursday - in the picture of the timetable that his army needs to attack Iran.
The newspaper quoted a senior diplomatic source as saying that the Americans did not express their opposition to the Israeli preparations when Gantz offered them the deadline.
On the other hand, two prominent Iranian officials warned that any Tel Aviv attack on Iranian facilities would mean the end of Israel, and stressed that Tehran was "fully prepared" to destroy Israel.
In recent days, a report spoke of US and Israeli plans to conduct possible military exercises in preparation for strikes on Iranian nuclear sites when diplomacy fails.