There were no face-to-face contacts between representatives of Tehran and Washington in Vienna during a meeting of the Joint commission of Iran and the international "Five" (Germany, France, Britain, China, Russia) to review the implementation of the Iranian nuclear program from April 6 to 9, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, said on Friday.
"No, nothing has changed. The Iranians made their position clear even before this marathon," Ulyanov said. - "They [the Iranians] are not ready for face-to-face contacts with the Americans."
According to him, "there were no face-to-face contacts" between the US and Iran". However, the EU coordinator was conducting shuttle diplomacy, the Russian Representative explained.
Ulyanov also added that so far there are no signs of a change in Iran's position with regard to their contacts with the United States.
Evaluating the work in Vienna
Participants in the two face-to-face meetings of the Joint commission of Iran and the international Five to review the Implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) gave a positive assessment of the work done in Vienna, Ulyanov also said.
"Almost all the participants, without exception, gave a positive assessment of the work done," Ulyanov noted.
On April 9, the second face-to-face meeting of the Joint commission of Iran and the international "five" in Vienna took place this week. In addition, two expert working groups - on lifting US sanctions on Iran and on implementing Tehran's nuclear commitments - discussed April 6-8 at the commission's request specific measures to be taken by the United States and Iran to restore full implementation of the JCPOA.
US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley is also in Vienna to hold consultations with individual countries participating in the nuclear deal. Indirect communication between the two countries through third parties to the Joint commission was to be provided by EU Coordinator Enrique Mora.
Russia's appeal
In addition, Russia urged participants in the Joint commission of Iran and the international "five" on the Iran nuclear deal to focus on addressing US sanctions policy toward Tehran, Ulyanov said.
"So far, the list of steps that Iran must take in the nuclear field is in a more advanced state. This is wrong, it needs to be corrected. This is an obvious imbalance, because there will be no return of Iran to fulfill its nuclear obligations without the lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions," Ulyanov said at the end of the commission's work. - "That's why we called on our colleagues from now on to focus specifically on the [US] sanctions problem".
According to the Russian Permanent Representative, an additional contribution from Washington could only be welcomed. "It is necessary to help develop a workable document, which would then form the basis of practical agreements," Ulyanov explained.
In the sanctions working group, Russia and China also emphasized that the US should necessarily lift sanctions imposed under former US President Donald Trump against a number of projects in Iran under the JCPOA. "These are the Arak reactor and setting up medical isotope production at the Fordow facility," the permanent representative pointed out.
Russian document
In addition, Ulyanov said that Russia circulated its non-paper on nuclear issues to stimulate discussion. In it, Russian diplomats laid out an understanding of what Iran needs to do to return to full compliance with its nuclear obligations.
The Russian Representative pointed out that Western colleagues on the Joint commission noted that "the Russian proposals allowed us to focus the discussion on practical issues". As a result, this produced some initial results in the work of the expert groups.
In the future, taking into account the results of the Vienna discussions, the US and Iranian representatives would need to report back to their capitals and receive updated, supplemented instructions.
Ulyanov did not rule out that the sides could do this work by the middle of next week. "And the commission will continue its work," he noted.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Pavel Golovkin / AP / TASS
Based on materials from TASS