On Saturday, the head of the Iranian negotiator team, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, stated that he did not believe that the final agreement could be reached this week. The statement came while the sixth round of nuclear talks is ongoing in the Austrian capital Vienna.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Araqchi said, “We are not in a hurry, nor do we waste time in this process.” Emphasizing that Iran does its best for its part, the Iranian top negotiator noted that now it is time for the other parties to make a decision.
Araqchi also underlined that the significant point at this stage is that any agreement, which would be reached as a result of these negotiations, must meet Tehran’s criteria and principles. He added that the Iranian team pursues a “good and suitable agreement” for their country.
Under this circumstance, it seems unlikely that the talks will conclude before the Iranian presidential election, which will be held on Friday. It is expected that a hardline conservative candidate will win in a landslide in the upcoming election in Iran. It is unclear how the ongoing talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal would be affected by the result of the presidential election.
Before the sixth round, the EU foreign policy official Enrique Mora, who coordinates the talks, had expressed his hope that the final agreement could be reached at the end of this round. However, other senior diplomats are more cautious, stating that many key issues still wait to be resolved.
In the indirect talks between the United States and Iran, which are being held simultaneously with the nuclear negotiations in Vienna, Tehran would like to see the US takes the first step. Iran also demands the US to lift all sanctions reimposed by former President Donald Trump when he pulled the US unilaterally from the nuclear agreement in 2018.
