TEHRAN, February 16. /TASS/. Participants in the Vienna talks have advanced closer to an agreement on the Iran nuclear deal than ever, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, the head of Iran’s delegation in Vienna, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
"After weeks of intensive talks, we are closer than ever to an agreement; nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, though. Our negotiating partners need to be realistic, avoid intransigence and heed lessons of past 4 years," he wrote.
"Time for their serious decisions," Bagheri Kani added.
The eighth round of talks resumed in Vienna on January 3 after a New Year break. The negotiations seek to restore the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA, known as the Iran nuclear deal) and bring the US back into the multilateral agreement. The talks are held within the JCPoA Joint Commission between Iran and the five world powers (Russia, the UK, Germany, China and France), and also include their separate consultations with the United States without Iran, which has not yet been ready for direct negotiations with the US. The parties agreed to accelerate the process of drafting the agreement. This round is expected to be final, as the parties intend to complete the talks in February 2022.