EU foreign policy chief: Nuclear talks with Iran to resume soon

TEHRAN, June 25 (KUNA) -- EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said Saturday he agreed with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to resume negotiations between Iran and the Western powers in Vienna soon.
Addressing a joint press conference with Amir-Abdollahian following their talks, Borrell, now on a visit to Tehran, said, "We agreed on resumption of negotiations between Iran and US in the coming days, facilitated by my team, to solve the last outstanding issues." "Since I paused the Vienna talks, three months have passed," Borrell noted, adding, "We need to break the current dynamic of escalation and speed up our work. We need to close the deal now." "My visit to Tehran has one main objective: give new momentum to the negotiations and bring the nuclear deal JCPOA back on track," the EU foreign policy chief pointed out, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
"Our bilateral relations have enormous potential but without a working JCPOA we cannot fully develop our relationship. "Also raised urgent matters such as the highly disconcerting detention of EU citizens in Iran and asked for their release," Borrell added.
On his part, the Iranian minister said his country was ready to ready to resume the nuclear talks to prepare the ground for lifting the economic sanctions and serving the interests of the Iranian people.
He said "the in-depth and delicate talks" with the EU foreign policy chief dealt with Iranian demands, noting that Iran seeks to remove the outstanding issues in the coming round of talks.
Amir-Abdollahian urged the US to adopt a realistic and responsible approach to the talks in order the break the current stalemate.
The Vienna talks aiming to revive the JCPOA, signed in July 2015 by Iran and the then P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States - plus Germany), hit a snag three months ago amid traded accusation of non-compliance.
The P5+1 was renamed as P4+1 after the withdrawal of the US from the deal on May 8, 2018. (end) mw.gb