Nuclear deal subject to Tehran's red lines: Iran
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Tehran: Iran asserted on Friday that the West's urgency to reach a nuclear deal "cannot prevent the observance of Iran's red lines, "including economic guarantees, Reuters reported.
Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that an imminent ministerial meeting to finish the 2015 nuclear deal requires "full compliance with the red lines." The negotiations to revive the agreement is reportedly about to climax.
The United States State Department said that a possible agreement is near, but some issues remain unsolved.
Iran's delegation will continue working on reaching a final and reasonable agreement, Amirabdollahian reportedly told European Union's top diplomat Joseph Borrell. He said that Tehran is ready to finalise the deal since most of its request has been considered regarding the agreement.
One of the issues left is the effort by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve questions about nuclear material that the agency suspects Iran has not declared. It had found particles of processed Uranium from three locations in the country which Iran has never declared and has not provided any satisfactory answer on the findings.
Iran also wants the IAEA to stop the investigation, but West has stated that it is beyond the scope of the 2015 nuclear deal since IAEA is not a party to it. Diplomats said that IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi had scheduled a trip to Tehran on Saturday, and it might lead to the end of its investigation and possibly clear space for a final agreement.
The 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers was designed to make it harder for Iran to accumulate the fissile material for nuclear weapons, an ambition it has long denied.
The 2015 deal has made it difficult for Iran to accumulate nuclear fuel. In return for the restrain, Iran was promised with lifting the West's sanctions. But in 2018, the Trump administration imposed sanctions and pulled the US out of the deal. The fresh sanctions crippled Iran's economy, and Tehran retraced its path to the ambition of nuclear weapons and started accumulating nuclear fuel to levels forbidden by the 2015 deal.