Talks between Iran and world powers entered a state of uncertainty on Sunday after Russia asked the United States for guarantees that sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine would not harm its trade with Tehran.

Moscow placed these obstacles yesterday, at a time when it seemed that the indirect talks between Tehran and Washington in Vienna were heading towards an agreement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Western sanctions on his country have become a stumbling block to reviving the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and international powers in 2015.

His US counterpart, Anthony Blinken, sought to dispel talk of such obstacles when he said that sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine had nothing to do with a possible nuclear deal with Iran.

In an interview with CBS, Blinken said, "The sanctions imposed on Russia have nothing to do with the Iranian nuclear deal and the possibilities of returning to it. These are completely different things and are not related to each other in any way."

The US Secretary of State added that a potential agreement with Iran was imminent, but indicated that no solution to two of the remaining "extremely difficult" issues had been reached.


On the other hand, a senior Iranian official said that his country is waiting for clarification from Moscow regarding the statements of Minister Lavrov, who said that Russia wants written guarantees from the United States that Russia's trade, investment and military-technical cooperation with Iran will not be obstructed in any way by sanctions.

"It is necessary to clearly understand what Moscow wants. If their demands are related to the nuclear deal, it will not be difficult to find a solution to them," the Iranian official said.

"But it will be complicated if the guarantees demanded by Moscow go beyond the nuclear deal," he added.

Iran analyst Henry Roma said reviving the nuclear deal without Russia "is difficult, but probably possible, at least in the short term."

"If Russia continues to put obstacles in the way of the talks, I believe that the other parties and Iran will have no choice but to think (creatively) about ways in which the agreement can be accomplished without Moscow's interference," he added.

In the same context, Iranian negotiators met Sunday with European diplomat Enrique Mora, who is coordinating talks between Tehran and major powers.