The US State Department confirmed that great progress had been made in the nuclear negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 agreement, while Tehran spoke of reaching a "decisive" stage, but the two sides indicated that there are outstanding issues.
The US State Department expressed its hope that an agreement would be reached in a short time if the Iranians were serious about the talks, as it put it.
She indicated that there are still issues pending in the negotiations, stressing that there will be no agreement before they are resolved.
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that the Vienna negotiations had reached a sensitive and important stage, stressing that his country would not back down in the negotiations and would not cross red lines under any circumstances.
He said - during a press conference with his Omani counterpart Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi in Tehran - that Western countries should follow a realistic approach in negotiations to settle the remaining matters.
Regarding the dialogue with the United States, Abdullahian stressed that there are no direct negotiations with Washington, and that communication takes place through unofficial messages.
He said that what matters in this is the outcome of the negotiations and what his country will get in the end.
Reuters reported last week that a US-Iranian agreement began to take shape in Vienna after months of indirect talks to revive the nuclear deal that the United States withdrew from in 2018 under former President Donald Trump, who reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
Diplomats said the text of the draft agreement only vaguely referred to other issues, adding that it was intended to unfreeze billions of dollars of Iranian money in South Korean banks and to release Western prisoners held in Iran.
Diplomats from the parties involved in the negotiations said they had entered a critical phase;
A Russian envoy said Tuesday that talks are nearing completion.
Sources close to the negotiations said a prisoner exchange between Iran and the United States was expected soon.
But the Iranian Foreign Ministry's announcement of the return of chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani to Tehran on a "short trip" indicates that an agreement is not imminent.
The 2015 agreement - signed by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia along with Iran and the United States - placed restrictions on Tehran's uranium enrichment activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions imposed on it.
quarrels
Reuters notes that the main remaining disagreements may include the extent to which sanctions are rolled back and questions about traces of uranium that have been found at several ancient but undisclosed sites in Iran.
Iran has made it clear that it wants to abolish sanctions related to the oil and banking sectors, which paralyze the economy, and also insists on lifting restrictions related to human rights and terrorism.
"There is very good progress in the talks, but the ball is now in the court of the other side. It is time for the other side to make political decisions. The fate of our country is not subject to this agreement," the Iranian official said.