Iran rejects Reuters report on Vienna talks as “unsourced spin”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a tweet that misinformation disguised as reporting is dangerous. Khatibzadeh strongly denied the Reuters report, saying the final deal to let the US return to the JCPOA will be far from the news agency’s “un-sourced spin”.

He noted that the final deal won’t be between Iran and the US and warned of more “spin” as the Vienna talks near their final days.

Reuters has claimed a US-Iranian deal taking shape to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement lays out phases of mutual steps to bring both sides back into full compliance, and the first phase does not include waivers on oil sanctions.

It also quoted three unnamed diplomats as claiming that the draft text of the agreement, which is more than 20 pages long, stipulates a sequence of steps to be implemented once it has been approved by the remaining parties to the deal, starting with a phase including Iran suspending enrichment above 5% purity. According to Reuters, the text also refers to other measures that include unfreezing about $7 billion in Iranian funds stuck in South Korean banks under U.S. sanctions, as well as the release of Western prisoners held in Iran.

Reuters further claims only once that initial wave of measures has been taken and confirmed would the main phase of sanctions-lifting begin, culminating in what many diplomats call Re-Implementation Day – a nod to the original deal’s Implementation Day, when the last nuclear and sanctions-related measures fell into place.