Iran says significant progress made in nuclear talks

Though some key demands from Iran remain in the negotiations over its nuclear program, one official from the country said on Monday that “significant progress” has been made.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that “significant progress” has been made in nuclear negotiations in Vienna, Reuters reported. However, he added that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

“The remaining issues are the hardest,” Khatibzadeh said during a press briefing.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated Iran’s demands that the U.S. lift its sanctions against the country as part of an agreement to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the U.S. withdrew from in 2018 under former President Trump.

“The United States must prove its will to lift major sanctions,” Raisi said in a news conference in Doha, according to Reuters. “To reach an agreement, guarantees are necessary for negotiations and nuclear issues.”

Before the most recent round of negotiations began, European U.S. allies like the United Kingdom warned Iran that this would be its “last chance” to present a “serious resolution” toward a nuclear deal.

“This is the last chance for Iran to come to the negotiating table with a serious resolution to this issue, which has to be agreeing the terms of the JCPOA,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.

Reuters reported last week that a U.S.-Iran deal to revive the agreement had begun to take shape. A draft text of an agreement seen by Reuters would cap Iran’s nuclear enrichment at 5 percent and also unfreeze $7 billion in Iranian funds being held in South Korean banks under U.S. sanctions.