Bagheri: Reaching deal before Feb. depends on west seriousness

Asked if the negotiations could lead to a deal by the end of January 2022 as claimed by the Chinese representative, Bagheri Kani responded that this depended on the other party’s seriousness, as the deal could be reached sooner if the other party were more prepared to remove sanctions and accept Iran’s proposed mechanisms in this regard.

Wang Qun, Chinese envoy to the Vienna talks has talked of possibility of reaching an agreement between Iran and the P4+1 before February.

Bagheri Kani stated that reaching an agreement on effective removal of sanctions against Iran is the key to success of the eighth round of talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Almost all representatives of the participant countries had underscored the priority of removing the illegal sanctions against Iran, Bagheri Kani told Iranian reporters, referring to the meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission on Monday evening in the Austrian capital.

It was agreed that the removal of sanctions be put on the agenda in experts meetings and the joint meetings between Iran and the P4+1, he added.

The Iranian top negotiator also noted that the delegations have agreed to consider in the issue of sanctions removal the two main deliberations of Iran, i.e. verification of sanctions removal and assurances for that.

He further explained that the Islamic Republic of Iran had announced that for any deal to succeed, the violating party, i.e. the US, should remove sanctions at first and Iran would verify the removal before returning to full compliance with the JCPOA.

The verification has been accepted in essence by the other party, Bagheri Kani underlined, but the mechanism, frameworks, and measures would be discussed on Tuesday along with the “rightful demand” by Iran that the other parties should make assurances that the US wouldn’t violate the deal again and illegally impose further sanctions.

Among other issues, financial and banking sanctions would be discussed in the next two days meetings, according to the diplomat.

Iran has underscored effective and practical removal of sanctions, as said by Bagheri Kani who added that the other parties have accepted the idea as a serious part of the talks.