The United States and Iran say they will start indirect talks with other major world powers next week to try to get both countries back into an accord limiting Iran’s nuclear program, nearly three years after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Friday called the resumption of negotiations, scheduled for Tuesday in Austria’s Vienna, “a healthy step forward”.
But Price added that “these remain early days, and we don’t anticipate an immediate breakthrough as there will be difficult discussions ahead”.
Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, and President Joe Biden has said rejoining the agreement is a priority for his administration.
The Biden administration and Iran have differed on any conditions for that to happen, including the timing of the lifting of US sanctions against Iran.
The talks will be held to get Iran and the United States over their differences on conditions for returning to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Agreement on the start of discussions came after talks on Thursday brokered by other governments that have remained in the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Price said next week’s talks will be structured around working groups that the European Union was forming with the remaining participants in the accord, including Iran.
Read the article by Ellen Knickmeyer and Raf Casert in the Bendigo Advertiser and The Sydney Morning Herald.