Negotiations to preserve Iran N-deal get underway

VIENNA: Iran, Russia and the United States reacted positively on Tuesday to the opening exchanges in a first day of talks in Vienna aimed at rescuing an international agreement on Tehran´s nuclear programme.

“I can say that overall, the meeting was constructive,” the head of the Iranian delegation, Abbas Araghchi, said in a video on Iranian broadcaster Irinn. The United States was not present at those discussions because Iran has refused to meet the US delegation so long as its sanctions against Tehran remain in place. The European Union is acting as an intermediary.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia´s Vienna-based envoy to international organisations, said Tuesday´s meeting between those parties still in the deal — Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany and Russia — had been “successful”. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said of the talks a little later. Talks between the delegates from the remaining members of the 2015 agreement will continue Wednesday at the luxury hotel in Vienna. The US delegation is due to meet in a different high-end hotel, also in downtown Vienna, with EU negotiators acting as go-betweens. Ahead of the talks, US special envoy Rob Malley suggested that the United States could be open to lifting sanctions and returning to the deal, comments welcomed by Iran government spokesman Ali Rabiei. Rabiei reiterated Iran was ready to reverse the steps it had taken as soon as all sanctions imposed during the Trump administration are lifted.