Iran is studying a rough draft of a deal to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement with major powers hammered out during talks in Vienna, its foreign minister said Saturday.

All sides have said the talks on bringing the United States back into the agreement after then president Donald Trump's 2018 walkout have reached a critical stage and Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri has been back in Tehran for consultations.

Iran is "seriously reviewing (the) draft of the agreement," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter, adding he had spoken by phone with the European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrel.

The EU has been acting as an intermediary between Iranian negotiators and a US delegation in the absence of US participation in face-to-face talks between Tehran and the remaining parties to the 2015 agreement.

We are "all trying to reach a good deal," Amir-Abdollahian added. "Our red lines are made clear to western parties. Ready to immediately conclude a good deal, should they show real will."

The 2015 agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, provided Iran with relief from sanctions in return for strict limits to its nuclear activities.

Since Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018, Iran has gradually suspended its compliance with many of the restrictions it agreed to under the deal, something that it is now expected to reverse.

Amir-Abdollahian said Wednesday that the talks had reached "a critical and important stage".

He said he hoped the remaining "sensitive and important issues" would be resolved in the coming days "with realism from the Western side".

Iran says can react quickly if US quits nuclear deal again
Tehran (AFP) Feb 25, 2022 - Iran can resume production of highly enriched uranium "at any moment" if the US again pulls out of a nuclear deal with major powers, its atomic energy chief said Friday.

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, was speaking as talks in Vienna on bringing Washington back into the 2015 agreement abandoned by president Donald Trump reach a critical stage.

The 2015 deal set a 3.67 percent limit for Iran's uranium enrichment, sufficient for its power generation needs although not for some other civilian uses, such as the production of medical isotopes.

Since Trump abandoned the agreement and reimposed crippling sanctions, Iran has responded by producing uranium enriched to 60 percent, a level that has sparked Western concern although it still falls short of weapons grade.

Iran credits its response with bringing President Joe Biden's administration back to the negotiating table for on-off talks that have now lasted 10 months.

"Enrichment can be done at any moment when (officials) decide or there is the will for it," Eslami said on his organisation's website.

"If they [the US] do not fulfil their obligations, we will return to the previous situation.

"Enrichment is in place in the country with a maximum ceiling of 60 percent and this brought the West to negotiations."

During the negotiations in Vienna, Iran has repeatedly called for guarantees from the Biden administration that there will be no repeat of Trump's 2018 walkout, something that partisan divisions on Iran policy have effectively precluded.

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Iran says decisions needed from West to seal nuclear deal
Tehran (AFP) Feb 24, 2022
Iran's chief negotiator called on Western governments Thursday to take the necessary decisions to seal a deal at talks in Vienna on reviving a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement. "No matter how close we are to the finish line, there is not necessarily a guarantee to cross it," Ali Bagheri tweeted after flying back to Tehran for consultations on the talks, which Iran says have reached a "critical" stage. "To finish the job, there are certain decisions that Western parties must make," Bagheri said, w ... read more