Window to reach agreement in Vienna 'won't remain open forever': Iran FM

Iran’s foreign minister, currently on an official visit to Oman, in remarks on Wednesday stressed that the “window to reach an agreement” in Vienna will not remain open forever, urging other parties to be realistic.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the two-day visit during which he met top-ranking Omani officials, including the Sultan of Oman, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran welcomes any initiative on the part of Muscat “to reach a good, strong and stable agreement.”

Amir-Abdollahian arrived in the Omani capital on Tuesday for talks on bilateral, regional and international issues, and also to convey a message from President Ebrahim Raeisi to the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tarik.

“The window to reach an agreement on the part of the Islamic Republic of Iran will not be open always,” the top Iranian diplomat asserted, adding that the window will be shut if the opposite parties, especially the Americans, continue to behave hypocritically and unrealistically.

“We haven’t closed (the window), but if the Westerners want to continue their hypocritical and interventionist behavior, we will move in another direction (plan),” he hastened to add.

Iran’s foreign minister said he spoke to the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borell on the sidelines of the second Baghdad summit in Jordan last week, and his deputy and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani also had a conversation with EU’s coordinator for talks, Enrique Mora.

The marathon talks in Vienna, underway since April last year, have remained stalled since August over foot-dragging by the United States and refusal to provide necessary guarantees to Iran.

The “politically manipulated” actions of the UN nuclear agency and the probe into so-called “uranium traces” found at “three undeclared sites” have also emerged as a key obstacle.

Iran maintains that the measures taken by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been at the behest of the Israeli regime and the Western states to seek leverage in ongoing nuclear talks.

Amir-Abdollahian insisted that Tehran will not agree to "negotiations for the sake of negotiations" but to reach a strong and stable agreement that takes into account Iran’s interests.

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