Nuclear Iran .. Washington says that reaching an agreement is possible within days, and Moscow criticizes the movements of the opponents

The US State Department said that it does not rule out the possibility of concluding an agreement to revive the Iranian nuclear agreement within days if Tehran shows seriousness in this regard. For its part, Russia criticized what it described as the movements of opponents of the agreement in the final stage of the Vienna negotiations.

And the French press agency quoted on Thursday - a US State Department spokesman - as saying that great progress was made in the Vienna negotiations last week, and he did not rule out the possibility of concluding an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program within days, if Tehran showed seriousness in this regard.

According to the same source, "there will be no comprehensive agreement unless the smallest details are agreed upon," stressing that any delay in the understanding regarding the mutual return to implementing the Iranian nuclear agreement "would expose the possibility of returning to the agreement to a grave danger."

During the ongoing Vienna negotiations with the aim of reviving the 2015 agreement, the Westerners stress the need to speed up the understanding due to the acceleration of Iranian nuclear activities, and the shortening of the period needed by Tehran to produce an amount of highly enriched uranium, sufficient for use in the production of a nuclear weapon.

On the other hand, Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani said the day before yesterday that his country's negotiating partners "must be realistic, avoid intransigence and benefit from the lessons of the past four years."

Adviser to the Iranian negotiating delegation in Vienna, Mohammad Mortad, said that some Europeans are obstructing the progress of the Vienna negotiations, by raising issues unrelated to the nuclear agreement, and stressed that issues unrelated to the agreement will not enter into any agreement.

Adviser to the Iranian negotiating delegation in Vienna, Mohammad Mortad, added that some Europeans are obstructing the progress of the Vienna negotiations by raising issues unrelated to the nuclear agreement.

Draft details

Tehran responded to a report published by Reuters yesterday, quoting diplomatic sources, as saying that the draft agreement between Iran and the major powers includes reciprocal measures to return to the nuclear agreement to be implemented in stages, and that the first stage does not include the removal of US sanctions on Iranian oil sales.

The draft agreement, which includes more than 20 pages, provides for a set of steps that must be implemented once approved, starting with a phase that includes Iran's suspension of enrichment above 5%, according to three diplomats familiar with the negotiations.

The text also includes references to other measures, which diplomats say include unfreezing nearly $7 billion of Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks under US sanctions, in addition to releasing Western prisoners held in Iran, a measure that chief US negotiator Robert Malley says is a condition for concluding an agreement. .

Once this initial set of measures is implemented and confirmed, the main stage for lifting US sanctions on Iran begins, and culminates in what many diplomats call Re-Implementation Day, that is, the return to implementing the Iranian nuclear agreement.

Commenting on the Reuters report, an informed Iranian source told Al Jazeera that it was "inaccurate, misleading, and relied on distortion." Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzad said that the final agreement for Washington's return to the nuclear agreement would be different from the agency's report, which he described as distorted.

Enrichment and penalties

Khatibzadeh added that publishing incorrect information about the Vienna negotiations in the form of a news report is dangerous, while the Iranian Tasnim Agency quoted sources as saying that Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment above 5% - as requested by Western powers - before clarifying the issue of sanctions, especially oil ones. .

Concerning the progress of the nuclear negotiations, Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian delegate to international organizations in Vienna, said that "as we approach the return to the nuclear agreement, the opponents are activating to create an unhealthy environment surrounding the negotiations."

It is noteworthy that in 2015 Iran concluded a "historic" agreement on its nuclear program with Washington, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing and Berlin, which allowed for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran, in return for limiting its nuclear activities and ensuring the peacefulness of its program.

However, the effects of the agreement have become null and void, since former US President Donald Trump decided to unilaterally withdraw from it in 2018, re-imposing severe sanctions on Tehran, and the latter responded by starting to gradually withdraw from many of its obligations under the agreement.

For 10 months, Iran and the signatories to the agreement, with indirect US participation, have been negotiating in Vienna with the aim of achieving Washington and Tehran's return to full respect for the terms of the agreement.