Indirect talks between the United States and Iran in the Qatari capital of Doha have diminished the prospects for restoring the nuclear deal. A senior US source expressed this view in a comment to Reuters on condition of anonymity on Thursday.
"The prospects for a deal after Doha are worse than they were before the deal and will get worse every day. <...> At best, you could describe the situation as "stomping in place," at worst, you could see it as a backward movement. At this point, standing still for all practical purposes means moving backward," the spokesman said.
"Their (representatives of the Iranian side - TASS) vague demands, the return to already settled issues, the requests that are clearly unrelated to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program (JCPOA - TASS) - all this leads us to believe that <...> the real discussion to resolve the remaining differences should take place not between Iran and the US," the source added, stressing that only Iran itself should decide whether it is interested in a return to the JCPOA.
Indirect talks between the US and Iran on restoring the nuclear deal began Tuesday in the Qatari capital. Enrique Mora, the coordinator of the talks and political director of the EU foreign policy service, said Wednesday that the parties had failed to make the progress they had hoped for. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced Thursday that Tehran was positive about the new round of talks held in Doha. According to him, the goal of restoring the deal may be achievable "if the US shows realism."
On March 11, a break was taken in Vienna after eight rounds of talks aimed at restoring the JCPOA to its original form and returning the US to the agreement due to external factors. Prior to that, the Vienna talks had reached the finish line and were due to be completed by the end of February. The text of the agreements was agreed upon and is about 20 pages long, outlining further steps to return to the nuclear agreement in its original form.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS