Iran says good progress made in Vienna talks on sanctions removal

Iran’s top negotiator in talks held in the Austrian capital with the goal of removing illegal and unjust sanctions imposed on Tehran says during the eighth round of negotiations good progress was made with regard to the removal of sanctions and subsequent verification of sanctions removal.

Ali Bagheri Kani made the remarks while speaking to reporters on Thursday before leaving Vienna for Tehran after the negotiators declared a few days of recess on the occasion of the New Year holidays.

“The issue of sanctions removal was the main focus of the talks. Iran and the other side continued their negotiations on multiple issues, including a number of sessions on the verification of sanctions removal. The meetings were attended by both the coordinator of the joint commission of the JCPOA and the European side," he said.

“Also, on the issue of verification, Iran held separate sessions with the coordinator of the joint commission and the three European signatories" to the JCPOA, he added.

"There was also some correspondence between the two sides on the issue of sanctions removal. Good progress was made during the first days of the eighth round,” he added.

Iran’s top negotiator also expressed hope that after a few days of recess over the end-of-year holidays, more serious work would be pursued on the issue of sanctions removal by the other parties.

"We hope more serious work gets underway on the issue of sanctions removal once the delegations return to negotiations after the New Year holidays," he noted.

Iran and the P4+1 group of -Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany- on Monday started the eighth round of the Vienna talks focused on the removal of all sanctions imposed on Tehran after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the agreement.

The US is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the landmark deal with Iran, which is officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which took place three years after the accord was clinched by Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany in June 2015.

Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA resumed talks in Vienna on November 29 after a five-month hiatus, marking the first round of negotiations under President Ebrahim Raeisi’s administration and the seventh overall.