Iran: Nuclear agreement closer ‘than ever’

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Wednesday said a new nuclear deal between his country and the west was “closer to an agreement in Vienna than ever before,” referring to ongoing negotiations in Austria’s capital.

Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Syria, Amirabdollahian said negotiators were closing in on revising the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which former President Trump scrapped in 2018.

“If the U.S. acts pragmatically, we are ready to have foreign ministers of countries belonging to the nuclear deal’s joint commission gather in Vienna to finalise the agreement,” the foreign minister said, according to Reuters. “We believe that today we are closer to an agreement in Vienna than ever before.”

Negotiations on restarting the JCPOA have been ongoing for the better part of a year since President Biden took office with the goal to resume the nuclear deal that began when he was vice president.

For weeks, negotiators in Vienna have hinted that a new deal is just around the corner with only a few kinks left to work out.

The U.S. Department of State, however, signaled on Monday that a new deal was not guaranteed and that Washington was preparing for scenarios with and without a mutual agreement to a full return of the JCPOA, according to Reuters.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has thrown a wrench into the hammering out of a new deal. Some U.S. lawmakers are concerned that Russia could profit off the deal, estimating Russia could make $20 billion for building Iran’s Bushehr 2 and Bushehr 3 nuclear power plants.

But not making a new deal could be costly, as Iran has enriched 73.1 pounds of uranium up to 60 percent of fissile purity, which is an increase of 12.1 pounds since November. Highly-enriched uranium is capable of nuclear weapons development.

Earlier this month, Iran signaled it was willing to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding its nuclear development.