Advisor: Vienna talks not over; Iran awaits response from Russia, US

An advisor to Iran’s negotiating team says the Vienna talks “aren’t over anyway,” with Tehran waiting for Russia’s clarifications over its requests from the US and for Washington to respond to the Islamic Republic’s “key demands” in the process.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Mohammad Marandi was asked about the recent remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Moscow had asked Washington to provide “written guarantees” that the current sanctions “will not in any way harm our right to free, fully fledged trade and economic and investment cooperation and military-technical cooperation with Iran.”

Marandi said, “It is not quite clear what the Russians mean. If it is linked to the actual implementation of the JCPOA (Iran deal), especially with regards to the Iranian nuclear program itself, that is relevant, because the Russians are playing a role in resolving the issue. They will be dealing with enriched uranium and other elements of the nuclear program.”

“We are still waiting for clarification” from the Russian side, Marandi said.

At the same time, he added, Iran is also waiting for the Americans “to respond to a number of issues that need to be resolved in order for the JCPOA to be revived.”

“The Iranians expect a full implementation of the JCPOA,” he said. “Over the last few months that we’ve had negotiations, they have been dragging their feet.”

“Finally, we are getting there, but we are still not there,” the advisor said.

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