U.S To Meet Directly With Iran for Nuclear Deal Talks

Vienna held on Monday a meeting between Iranian diplomats and the  P4+1 representatives to review guarantees and verification texts for the removal of U.S. sanctions aimed to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

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U.S. State Department spokesperson said to Sputnik: "We are prepared to meet directly" with Iranian diplomats to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated so far by Eurasian partners on Washington's behalf.

"We have long held the position that it would be more productive to engage with Iran directly, on both JCPOA negotiations and other issues. This extends to bilateral and multilateral formats," the spokesperson noted. "We've heard nothing to that effect. We'd welcome it," Robert Malley, U.S. Special Representative to Iran, said to Reuters about Iran's negotiating team's recent request on appealing for direct talks.

"Reports saying that Iran and the U.S. are directly negotiating with one another are untrue," said the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian earlier on Monday in Tehran. "However, if we get to a stage where reaching a good deal with strong guarantees necessitates direct talks with the U.S., we will consider it," he continued to say.

In the last few years, the 2015 deal suffered the U.S. government sanctions against Iran, which are aimed at Tehran accepting strict limitations on its nuclear program, comprising the quality and quantity of refined uranium it could produce and store.

During Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. unilaterally pulled out of the deal in 2018, alleging Iran had been secretly violating it in pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

The Iranian government denied the accusations, while the other partners were unconvinced by the evidence Washington presented. Still, they acquiesced to U.S. demands to comply with the sanctions.