World

US and Iran seek to break impasse at talks on reviving nuclear deal

November 29, 2021 2:32 pm

[Source: BBC]

Critical talks with Iran to prevent the collapse of a nuclear deal are to resume in Vienna after five months.

Officials will discuss the possible return of the US to the 2015 accord, which limited Iran’s nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions.

Iran has violated key commitments since then-President Donald Trump pulled out in 2018 and reinstated US sanctions.

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Joe Biden is willing to lift them if Iran reverses the breaches. But it wants the US to make the first move.

Western diplomats have warned that time is running out to negotiate a solution because of the significant advances Iran has made in its uranium enrichment programme, which is a possible pathway to a nuclear bomb.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

The talks between Iran and the five countries still party to what is known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK – began in the Austrian capital in April, with US representatives participating indirectly.