Iran nuclear talks resume in Vienna
Iran said nuclear talks that are set to resume yesterday in Vienna should focus on lifting sanctions on the Islamic republic and "guarantees" the US will return to the fold.
Negotiations to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal resumed in late November, after a five-month hiatus.
The talks seek to bring back the United States, after it withdrew from the accord in 2018 under president Donald Trump and began imposing sanctions on Iran.
Iran has reported progress in the talks, but European diplomats have warned they are "rapidly reaching the end of the road".
The talks are expected to get underway in the Austrian capital at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT), according to a source close to the negotiations.
Ahead of the resumption, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the agenda yesterday should be "the issue of guarantees and verification" on the lifting of US sanctions if it returns to the accord.
"The most important thing for us is to reach a point where we can verify that Iranian oil will be sold easily and without any limits, that the money for this oil will be transferred in foreign currency to Iranian bank accounts, and that we will be able to benefit from all the revenues," he said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
The opening of the eighth round of the talks involves delegations from Iran and the other countries that remain party to the landmark accord -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
West fears Iran is trying to make nuclear weapon. On Saturday, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran director Mohammad Eslami said Tehran has no plans to enrich uranium beyond 60 percent, even if the Vienna talks fail.
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