Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that Iran is ready to reach a good and strong agreement in the Vienna negotiations, amid concerns in the US Senate that Washington will make concessions in order to reach an agreement that harms its interests.
In a telephone conversation with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Abdullahian stressed the need to preserve Iran's interests and red lines.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry quoted the Qatari foreign minister as saying that all parties should work to reach an agreement in Vienna.
She added that he expressed his appreciation for the constructive role played by Iran in the negotiations, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
On the same subject, the senior Republican in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jim Risch said that the Biden administration continued to seek an agreement with Iran despite the objections of its partners in the Middle East and the concerns of Congress, as he put it.
Rich added - in a statement - that the reports issued by Vienna were disturbing, expressing his concern about "the concessions that the Biden administration is considering to satisfy the Iranian regime."
He said that the deal, which provides between 90 and 130 billion dollars, eases sanctions for what he described as the worst violators of human rights, and removes the Revolutionary Guards from the terrorist list, does not support US national security interests.
'Hard decisions'
For his part, Democratic Senator Ben Cardin called for keeping the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the list of terrorist organizations, following a closed briefing in the Senate on Iran.
On Tuesday, Washington announced that it was now up to Iran to make "difficult" decisions in order to revive the 2015 agreement.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that after nearly a year of negotiations, "the responsibility lies with Tehran to make decisions that it may consider difficult," adding, "There are a number of difficult issues that we are trying to find solutions to."
Price pointed out that "an agreement of this kind is neither imminent nor certain, and that is precisely why we are preparing during the year for any emergency."
"There are a number of difficult issues that we are still trying to resolve," he added.
Without giving further details, Price said that Washington has long been discussing "alternatives" with its partners in the Middle East and Europe, stressing US President Joe Biden's commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb, whether with or without an agreement with Tehran.